fs-safe-replace.js/README.md

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safe-replace
============
A micro-module for safely replacing a file.
This is intended to be generally safe even when a function that writes a file
is accidentally called twice (as may happen with node cluster).
Commandline Reference
---------------------
If I want to safely replace a file with a new version, I would do so like this:
```bash
# create the new version
touch keep.txt.RANDOM.tmp
# remove the previous backup
rm -f keep.txt.bak
# move the current version to the backup
mv keep.txt keep.txt.bak
# move the new version to the current
mv keep.txt.RANDOM.tmp keep.txt
```
If `keep.txt` became corrupt and I wanted to use the backup,
I would do this:
```bash
# copy the backup to the new version
rsync keep.txt.bak keep.txt
```
In Node
-------
I ported that proccess to node.
```js
// default behavior is to concat (filename + '.' + 'new')
var safeReplace = require('safe-replace').create({ new: 'new', bak: 'bak' });
var data = new Buffer('A priceless document');
safeReplace.writeFile('keep.txt', data, 'ascii').then(function () {
fs.readdir('.', function (nodes) {
console.log('file system nodes', nodes);
// keep.txt
// keep.txt.bak
});
});
// let's say I wrote keep.txt.x7t7sq926.tmp with my own mechanism
safeReplace.commit('keep.txt.x7t7sq926.tmp', 'keep.txt').then(function () {
fs.readdir('.', function (nodes) {
console.log('file system nodes', nodes);
// keep.txt
// keep.txt.bak
});
});
// let's say I want to revert the file from the '.bak'
safeReplace.revert('keep.txt').then(function () {
fs.readdir('.', function (nodes) {
console.log('file system nodes', nodes);
// keep.txt
// keep.txt.bak
});
});
// let's say I want to write a tmp file and not commit it... weird
safeReplace.stage('keep.txt', data, 'ascii').then(function (tmpname) {
fs.readdir('.', function (nodes) {
console.log('file system nodes', nodes);
// keep.txt
// keep.txt.bak
// keep.txt.ac71teh8mja.tmp
});
});
```