Cleanup Issue CLOSED-STREAM-OPERATIONS

Status
Passed Jan 89 X3J13 with amendment to specify that CLOSE on a closed stream returns NIL. At Mar 89 X3J13, amendment was withdrawn; this version stands.
Forum
Cleanup
Category
CLARIFICATION
References
CLOSE (CLtL p 332)
Related issues
STREAM-ACCESS, STREAM-INFO, INPUT-STREAM-P-CLOSED, CLOSE-CONSTRUCTED-STREAMS, PATHNAME-STREAM

Problem Description

The description of CLOSE is not completely clear about the functions which are allowed to be performed on a closed stream.

On p332 it says:

``The stream is closed. No further Input/output operations may be performed on it. However, certain inquiry operations may still be performed, ...''

but the list of inquiry operations is not specified.

Proposal (ALLOW-INQUIRY)

Clarify the behavior of the following functions on closed streams:

* STREAMP is unaffected by whether its stream argument is open or closed.

* If CLOSE is called on a stream which is open, it will return T. However, if CLOSE is called on a stream which is closed, it will succeed without error but the return value is not specified.

* PATHNAME is valid on either an open or closed stream. Since some implementations cannot provide the truename of a file until the file is closed, it would in principle be possible for PATHNAME in some implementations to return more specific information after the stream is closed. For consistency, however, PATHNAME is prohibited from doing this. PATHNAME must return the same pathname after a file is closed as it did before. (The passed proposal in issue PATHNAME-STREAM still stands.)

* TRUENAME is valid on either an open or closed stream. Since some implementations cannot provide the truename of a file until the file is closed, it is permissible TRUENAME to return more specific information after the stream is closed.

* MERGE-PATHNAMES, PATHNAME-HOST, PATHNAME-DEVICE, PATHNAME-DIRECTORY, PATHNAME-NAME, PATHNAME-TYPE, PATHNAME-VERSION, NAMESTRING, FILE-NAMESTRING, DIRECTORY-NAMESTRING, HOST-NAMESTRING, ENOUGH-NAMESTRING, and OPEN are valid on either open or closed streams. For any of these operations, using a stream, S, as an argument where appropriate is equivalent to using (PATHNAME s). See the description of PATHNAME above to understand the consequences of this.

* PROBE-FILE and DIRECTORY are valid on either open or closed streams. For either of these operations, using a stream, S, as an argument where appropriate is equivalent to using (PATHNAME s). See the description of PATHNAME above to understand the consequences of this. In this case of these operators however, closed stream may well be the most reliable arguments in some cases, since treatment of open streams to the file system may vary considerably between implementations. For example, in some operating systems, open files are written under temporary names and not renamed until close and/or are held invisible until a close is performed. In general, any code with an intent to be highly portable should tread lightly when using PROBE-FILE or DIRECTORY.

Rationale

One can consider many characteristics of a stream to be independent of the ability to do I/O. Being able to determine a stream's direction and its name is often useful for debugging. A number of the descriptions in CLtL imply (weakly) the ability to work on closed streams. Functions such as OPEN and DIRECTORY don't really depend on the stream, but on the name of the stream.

Current Practice

At least two implementations differ in which functions are allowed to be performed on a closed stream.

Cost to Implementors

Unknown, but likely to be small in most implementations.

A nontrivial amount of work may be necessary if the pathname information is held externally and is normally deleted when the stream is closed. The implementation will have to copy the information at some time for later inquiries.

Cost to Users

Likely to be small; users of an implementation forced to change by this proposal might have to make some modifications to make their programs portable.

Benefits

These clarifications will assist users in writing portable code.

Aesthetics

Most people will probably see these clarifications as an improvement in aesthetics.

Discussion

There are some separate, but related, issues regarding what CLOSE should do on composite streams or constructed streams such as created by MAKE-BROADCAST-STREAM. These issues will be addressed in a separate issue (CLOSE-CONSTRUCTED-STREAMS).

There was some discussion on whether INPUT-STREAM-P and OUTPUT-STREAM-P should return "false" on a stream that had been closed. The issue STREAM-ACCESS contains a proposal to add a function OPEN-STREAM-P which might be useful for the same purpose. This issue was separated out into a separate issue (INPUT-STREAM-P-CLOSED).

The other functions in proposal STREAM-ACCESS:PROVIDE should work on closed streams.

The functions in STREAM-INFO:ONE-DIMENSIONAL-FUNCTIONS should not be requred to work on closed streams.

----- End Forwarded Messages -----

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