python / python/cpython

Don't use O_EXCL when using O_TMPFILE

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stdlib type-feature
Dominant language
Python
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Description

Feature or enhancement

Proposal:

I was working on a tool on Linux where I'm updating yaml files on disk. I need to replace the file when the data changes. I was looking into using a tempfile created with O_TMPFILE, writing the content, and then replacing the original file using linkat. This would provide a simple atomic replacement of the file without needing to do a lot of file handshaking, etc.

However, at the moment tempfile.TemporaryFile passes the O_EXCL flag to io.open, this prevents the file descriptor from being used in a linkat call.

The TemporaryFile code already removes the O_CREAT flags from the standard open flags when using O_TMPFILE.

Would it be okay to remove O_EXCL from the open flags as well?

Has this already been discussed elsewhere?

This is a minor feature, which does not need previous discussion elsewhere

Links to previous discussion of this feature:

No response

Linked PRs
  • gh-136281
  • gh-136430
  • gh-136534

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start at Python's tempfile.TemporaryFile implementation and inspect how it passes flags to io.open when O_TMPFILE is used. Confirm that O_EXCL is omitted only for this path, then verify that the resulting descriptor can be used with linkat without changing other TemporaryFile behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
linux, python
Domain
operating-systems
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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