[Autogen-users] 'extract' Function Sets Output Files Writable - Feature or Bug?

[Eric M. <mcd...@ph...>]

Hi,

  I've noticed that the output files from templates, which use the
'extract' Autogen Scheme function, are set to writable. Looking at the
'loadExtractData' function in agen5/expExtract.c, I can see that this
appears to be deliberate:

      if (! HAVE_OPT( WRITABLE ))
        SET_OPT_WRITABLE;

I am having trouble understanding why this is desirable. I read the
documentation for the 'extract' function, as well as the comments in its
implementation, and nothing really stands out as a reason. Even if the
output files are not going to be kept around long-term, as in the case
of the example code mentioned in the documentation, they should still be
able to get forcefully renamed or removed. Hence, it should be safe to
leave them read-only by default.

  Any insights?

Thanks,
  Eric