Re: zsh doesn't load HISTFILE from readonly directory

[Peter Stephenson <Peter.Stephenson@xxxxxxx>]

On Sun, 13 Jun 2010 13:17:37 +0000 (UTC)
JÃrg Sommer <joerg@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> if the directory, containing the history file, is not writeable, zsh
> doesn't load the data and I've not history.

Yes, it's returning after not being able to lock the file.  This is
unhealthy because (1) there's no error, which might be arguable for normal
interactive history but is certainly wrong for an explicit "fc -R" (2)
there's no reason why it shouldn't just read the history.

Not immediately sure how wide the scope of the fix should be.  Get locking
to check if the file is not writeable for some reason (which is a different
test from checking if it can be locked)?  Do we need to remember that we
didn't lock it to avoid errors later?  Or should we simply issue a warning
when and continue any time we can't lock the file?  That's simple but it's
not very safe if the file can be written and shared history is in use.

-- 
Peter Stephenson <pws@xxxxxxx>            Software Engineer
Tel: +44 (0)1223 692070                   Cambridge Silicon Radio Limited
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