Re: Crashed commit?

[Larry Jones]

Zanabria, Moises writes:
> 
> Checking in pukjaskm.ppf;
> /home/kmcvs/unix/UNIX3_KM/packaging/pukjaskm.ppf,v  <--  pukjaskm.ppf
> new revision: 1.7; previous revision: 1.6
> cvs [server aborted]: could not open lock file
> `/home/kmcvs/unix/UNIX3_KM/packaging/,pukjaskm.ppf,': File exists
> cvs commit: saving log message in /tmp/cvsvsTuv5

That file (/home/kmcvs/unix/UNIX3_KM/packaging/,pukjaskm.ppf,) is an RCS
lock file.  When modifying a file, RCS doesn't write over the existing
file, rather it writes a whole new file with a special temporary name
and, when that file has been completely written without error, it
renames it over top of the original file.  CVS works the same way.  The
error is telling you that there's already a file with that name, which
implies that either someone was in the process of updating that file
with RCS when you tried to do your commit or that someone was in the
process of updating it with RCS or CVS when the system crashed (or some
other serious error occurred) and the process was never completed.  If
the file is still there, it's probably safe to delete it (by hand), but
you may want to check first to see how old it is, how big it is, and
what it contains (which you can do with RCS).

-Larry Jones

I don't NEED to compromise my principles, because they don't have
the slightest bearing on what happens to me anyway. -- Calvin