comparison lispref/files.texi @ 59877:36a927615e6d

(File Locks): Not supported on MS systems. (Testing Accessibility): Clarify.

59876:59d6cfcd4c9a

@node File Locks
@section File Locks
@cindex file locks

  When two users edit the same file at the same time, they are likely to
interfere with each other.  Emacs tries to prevent this situation from
arising by recording a @dfn{file lock} when a file is being modified.
Emacs can then detect the first attempt to modify a buffer visiting a
file that is locked by another Emacs job, and ask the user what to do.
The file lock is really a file, a symbolic link with a special name,
stored in the same directory as the file you are editing.

@defun lock-buffer &optional filename
This function locks the file @var{filename}, if the current buffer is
modified.  The argument @var{filename} defaults to the current buffer's
visited file.  Nothing is done if the current buffer is not visiting a
file, or is not modified.
@end defun

@defun unlock-buffer
This function unlocks the file being visited in the current buffer,
if the buffer is modified.  If the buffer is not modified, then
the file should not be locked, so this function does nothing.  It also
does nothing if the current buffer is not visiting a file.
@end defun

  File locking is not supported on some systems.  On systems that do not
support it, the functions @code{lock-buffer}, @code{unlock-buffer} and
@code{file-locked-p} do nothing and return @code{nil}.

@end defun

@c Emacs 19 feature
@defun file-accessible-directory-p dirname
This function returns @code{t} if you have permission to open existing
files in the directory whose name as a file is @var{dirname}; otherwise
(or if there is no such directory), it returns @code{nil}.  The value
of @var{dirname} may be either a directory name or the file name of a
file which is a directory.

Example: after the following,

@example
(file-accessible-directory-p "/foo")

59877:36a927615e6d

@node File Locks
@section File Locks
@cindex file locks

  When two users edit the same file at the same time, they are likely
to interfere with each other.  Emacs tries to prevent this situation
from arising by recording a @dfn{file lock} when a file is being
modified.  (File locks are not implemented on Microsoft systems.)
Emacs can then detect the first attempt to modify a buffer visiting a
file that is locked by another Emacs job, and ask the user what to do.
The file lock is really a file, a symbolic link with a special name,
stored in the same directory as the file you are editing.

@defun lock-buffer &optional filename
This function locks the file @var{filename}, if the current buffer is
modified.  The argument @var{filename} defaults to the current buffer's
visited file.  Nothing is done if the current buffer is not visiting a
file, or is not modified, or if the system does not support locking.
@end defun

@defun unlock-buffer
This function unlocks the file being visited in the current buffer,
if the buffer is modified.  If the buffer is not modified, then
the file should not be locked, so this function does nothing.  It also
does nothing if the current buffer is not visiting a file, or if the
system does not support locking.
@end defun

  File locking is not supported on some systems.  On systems that do not
support it, the functions @code{lock-buffer}, @code{unlock-buffer} and
@code{file-locked-p} do nothing and return @code{nil}.

@end defun

@c Emacs 19 feature
@defun file-accessible-directory-p dirname
This function returns @code{t} if you have permission to open existing
files in the directory whose name as a file is @var{dirname};
otherwise (or if there is no such directory), it returns @code{nil}.
The value of @var{dirname} may be either a directory name (such as
@file{/foo/}) or the file name of a file which is a directory
(such as @file{/foo}, without the final slash).

Example: after the following,

@example
(file-accessible-directory-p "/foo")