Kevin Brown <kevin@sysexperts.com> writes:
> Hmm...something just occurred to me about this.
> Would a hybrid approach be possible? That is, use mmap() to handle
> reads, and use write() to handle writes?
Nope. Have you read the specs regarding mmap-vs-stdio synchronization?
Basically it says that there are no guarantees whatsoever if you try
this. The SUS text is a bit weaselly ("the application must ensure
correct synchronization") but the HPUX mmap man page, among others,
lays it on the line:
It is also unspecified whether write references to a memory region
mapped with MAP_SHARED are visible to processes reading the file and
whether writes to a file are visible to processes that have mapped the
modified portion of that file, except for the effect of msync().
It might work on particular OSes but I think depending on such behavior
would be folly...
regards, tom lane