UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

We have two processes, one which copies a control file into a folder and another which is polling this folder and reading the control files.

Sometimes they clash and the reader fails because the copy is still happening.

We have been told that we should change the copy to a move because the move command will lock the file in a "different" way so that clash won't happen. I have so far found no evidence that this is true.

Can anyone tell me if changing to a move will really fix the issue.

Thanks,
S

cp and mv do not lock files.
It is a recognised technique to copy a file to a temporary filename then to rename the file (with mv) to the final name. A process looking for the file under its final name will only see the file when the copy is complete.
For this technique to work the temporary filename and the final filename must be in the same filesystem such that the "mv" just changes the inode rather than copying the file.