The problem is that fuser doesn't always show everything.  For example
sometimes if you are running as a user and cd to a directory then su to
another user and cd out of the directory fuser won't show what is
busying it out.  lsof on the other hand will.

I found out about lsof years ago and now consider an invaluable tool.
In addition to showing you what is busying a filesystem it can show you
all open files for a process INCLUDING open ports.   So not only does it
do things better than fuser it pretty much trounces netstat as it will
show not only the ports that are open but what processes are using them.

You're right that lsof isn't installed on most Unix flavors but there
are binaries available for most and for the odd one that it isn't you
can download the source and compile your own.

This doesn't mean that fuser never works but that for certainty you are
better off using lsof.

-----Original Message-----
From: veritas-bu-bounces at mailman.eng.auburn.edu
[mailto:veritas-bu-bounces at mailman.eng.auburn.edu] On Behalf Of Sean
Clarke
Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 5:55 PM
To: veritas-bu at mailman.eng.auburn.edu
Subject: Re: [Veritas-bu] Updating UNIX clients from the master server.

Sorry if I'm being stupid here but what is wrong with using fuser for 
this? It tells you if the file is being held open doesn't it?

Also, lsof isn't always installed on HP-UX and Solaris.

Cheers

Sean

Andrew Stueve wrote:
> Please! Use lsof!  fuser is not a very good utility for this. 
>
> -Andrew Stueve
>
> Sean Clarke wrote:
>
>   
>> I concur, we have done this for 8i, 9 and 10g without incident. If
you 
>> want to verify for yourself that libobk isn't being help open by
Oracle 
>> you can use fuser.
>>
>> Cheers
>> Sean
>>
>>
>> Weber, Philip wrote:
>>  
>>
>>     
>>> I don't think so.  With versions of Oracle previous to 8i the 
>>> libobk.so libraries were linked into Oracle which might have been a 
>>> problem for updating the NetBackup Agent for Oracle from the master 
>>> server, but I have not had problems with the UNIX client update and 
>>> the Oracle linking is simpler from 8i up.
>>>
>>> Phil
>>>
>>>    -----Original Message-----
>>>    *From:* veritas-bu-bounces at mailman.eng.auburn.edu
>>>    [mailto:veritas-bu-bounces at mailman.eng.auburn.edu] *On Behalf Of
>>>    *Whelan, Patrick
>>>    *Sent:* 17 July 2006 13:55
>>>    *To:* veritas-bu at mailman.eng.auburn.edu
>>>    *Subject:* [Veritas-bu] Updating UNIX clients from the master
server.
>>>
>>>    All,
>>>
>>>    One more question. Is anyone aware of a problem updating UNIX
>>>    clients running Oracle 8 from the master server? I have been told
>>>    that Oracle holds some of the lib files open so the update can
not
>>>    succeed. Is this true?
>>>
>>>    Regards,
>>>
>>>
>>>    Patrick Whelan
>>>
>>>    NetBackup Specialist
>>>
>>>    Architect & Engineering
>>>
>>>    +44 20 7863 5243
>>>
>>>    Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most! - Unknown
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