Message-ID:  <971020150418.a6ec@vms.rhbnc.ac.uk>
Reply-To: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project
              <LATEX-L@RELAY.URZ.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE>
Date:         Mon, 20 Oct 1997 15:04:18 +0100
From: "Philip Taylor (RHBNC)" <CHAA006@VMS.RHBNC.AC.UK>
Sender: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project
              <LATEX-L@RELAY.URZ.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE>
To: Multiple recipients of list LATEX-L
              <LATEX-L@RELAY.URZ.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE>
Subject:      Re: Extended include
Status: R

>> If your two aux filenames are A and B, during the first run you read
>> From A and write to B.  Presuming no errors, during your next run
>> however you need to read from B and write to A.  How do you keep
>> track?

No idea how Frank does it, but at successful completion I close A and B,
open B for input and A for output, and copy B to A in a robust environment
(sorry, not the LaTeX sense of "robust" but then I don't speak LaTeX!).

It _can_ go wrong during the copy, but only in the event of a machine failure
or running out of disc space, provided that the environment is sufficiently
robust.  Since the final record copied can be (e.g.) "%! TeX copy complete",
one can always search for this on re-opening to ensure that the file is valid.

** Phil.