[Python-Dev] large file support

[Guido van Rossum]

> >>    def exists(path):
> >>       return(os.access(path, os.F_OK))
> >
> >NO, NO, NOOOOOOO!
> >
> >access() does something different.  It checks permissions as they
> 
> F_OK checks to see if the file exists.

It is my understanding that if some directory along the path to the
file is accessible to root but not to the effective user, access() for
a file in that directory might return 0 while exists would return 1,
on some operating systems.

There's only one rule for access(): only use it if you have a set-uid
mission.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)