[cgf@redhat.com: fhandler redesign]

[DJ Delorie]

> > 1. The physical device/file.  Two programs could be writing to
> >    different parts or instances of the device simultaneously.  I think
> >    NT takes care of this for us, but virtual devices we create we'd
> >    need to think about this.  I can't think of examples, though, so we
> >    can probably leave it up to the #2 layer to figure out how/where to
> >    deal with this, rather than have it as an explicit layer.
> 
> FIFO's come to mind. The clipboard is potentially in this case as well.

Right, but in both of those cases, the details at this layer can be
safely hidden deep within the driver's DLL.