On Thu, Apr 18, 2002 at 11:39:03AM -0400, David Kramer wrote: > If I use the UNIX call flock() to lock a file, then someone tries to > append to that file like > ps >> myfile > or > ps > myfile > > Will the OS and shell respect the lock and block the write? No. flock() is an advisory lock, intended to be used with cooperating processes.