Re: frescobaldi destination temp folder

[Kieren MacMillan]

Hi David,

> If I press r at the moment that LP is converting
> PS→PDF, the effect can be bizarre (eg staves, stems and beams but
> nothing else) because xpdf is reading a file that LP is still writing.
> IOW there's no file-locking to protect the processes from each other.
> 
> Now imagine that there IS file-locking. LP would lock the PDF file
> each time it revised it. If I pressed r at that time, I expect xpdf
> might silently ignore the request and continue to display the old
> contents.
> 
> But what if xpdf locked the PDF file each time I pressed r until it
> had read the file—what would LP do if it hit a lock? One reaction
> might be to write to a nonce file instead, so that it can return
> control to the user (and update its graphics panel).
> 
> Just an idea; no brickbats please. I have no idea whether Macs use
> file-locking here, and I don't use Frescobaldi either.

Oh! Interesting idea! If Skim/Preview/whatever decided — on its own or "with 
help" — to try to read the PDF file while it was being written by Frescobaldi, 
it might force a lock, and Frescobaldi/Lilypond might then "run for the temp 
folder" in order to avoid the lock. It may well be that every time I’ve had 
this "redirect" happen, it’s because I moved or resized (or otherwise touched) 
the PDF in Skim/Preview/whatever, and unintentionally forced a lock.

I’ll be more vigilant to see if I can nail the behaviour down to that 
circumstance.

Thanks!
Kieren.
________________________________

Kieren MacMillan, composer
‣ website: www.kierenmacmillan.info
‣ email: address@hidden