Arch Linux

slinkygn

Member

Registered: 2009-05-03

Posts: 15

pacman vs. running programs

Hi, all,

how does pacman work around upgrading running programs?

Say, running pacman in your X window manager, while Firefox is running, or whatever.

So say those executables are in use.  I imagine one can't just clobber a binary that's being executed... right?  So how does pacman handle upgrading these?

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,362

Re: pacman vs. running programs

So say those executables are in use.  I imagine one can't just clobber a binary that's being executed... right?  So how does pacman handle upgrading these?

Yes you can. Try deleting the firefox binary while firefox is running (make a backup first). Firefox continues to run till you close it.

I believe I've read somewhere before that in UNIX, the deletion merely deletes the 'pointer' which indicates where the file is saved. If the binary is currently running, another pointer exists for it, which is only deleted when the binary exits. In any case, it is possible to overwrite existing files, but in the case of libraries, for example, it can screw things up when they're unloaded and then reloaded.

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