race condition on looking up inodes

Hi,
I had post a simillar message before.
Thanks for the replay from Albert D. Cahalan. But i found some results
confusing me.
For example, process 1 and process 2 run concurrently and execute the
following system calls.

    rename("/usr/hybrid/cfg/data","/usr/mytemp/data1"); /*for process 1*/

----------------------------------------------------------------

rename("/usr/mytemp/data1","/usr/test");/* for process 2*/

----------------------------------------------------------------
It is possible that context switch happens when process 1 is look ing up
the inode for "/usr/mytemp/data1" or the inode for "/usr/hybrid/cfg/data".

It will result in diffrent behaviour for process 2 and confuses the
application.
If so,how does Linux solve?

Thanks.

Warren

Solves what, precisely? Result depends on the order of these calls. If you don't provide any serialization - you get timing-dependent results you were asking for. What's the problem and what behaviour do you expect?

Besides, what's the difference caused by the moment of context switch?

Rename syscall is expected to be atomic on unixoid systems. And I dont know of a case where a problem is, besides if you use some network file system, where nobody can realy gurantee anything (well kidding, but it is harder than on a local one).

The second rename may see the result of the first rename or the original state before the first rename. It will not see any half-state or locked nodes.

Greetings
Bernd