Re: [bug-gawk] gawk - 'inplace' feature ignores file's access flags (read-only)

[Nethox]

On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 2:38 PM, Andrew J. Schorr <address@hidden> wrote:

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.  But I really don't think we should focus on
what happens in bash when a user tries to change a file.  We are not in fact
changing the contents of a file; we are replacing it with a new file.  From a
filesystem perspective, that's a completely different operation.  That's why
none of the tools with inplace editing will respect the permissions on the
file.  The directory permissions are the relevant ones.

I think this feature should be called "replace editing" (or "in situ") instead of "in-place editing". Not only in gawk, but in every tool which cannot change a few bytes/lines without using a temporary file.
That would avoid unexpected and undesirable behavior such as the read-only file permission being ignored, the extra storage required and the poor performance with big files. Also, a self-documenting name avoids "bug vs feature" reports and discussions. http://backreference.org/2011/01/29/in-place-editing-of-files/
The extension was introduced in gawk 4.1.0 (2013-05) and is not specified by POSIX, so maybe it is not too late to take advantage of being the last implementer and fix this instead of spread it.
Regards.