File synchronization problem

Question

I have a file "C:/test.txt" that app1 is reading (which takes a long time lets say)
At the same time app2 has an updated version of "C:/test.txt" so it creates "C:/test.txt.tmp" and writes it to that file, then it renames "C:/test.txt.tmp" to "C:/test.txt"
BUT this fails.
This should work and I think it does on *nix machines (since app1 would still be pointing to the same inode), but it fails on Windows.
Is there some sort of work around for this on Windows? That is a real problem for anything with numerous applications accessign one file (and it shouldn't be if the OS took care of it correctly)

Answer 1

What?? That is the convention used by almost all systems. And it is the standard that most OS adhere to. The rename on most OS is an atomic action so it is the preferred way to update a file that is being accessed without worry of read errors (on any app that is reading that file) if the inode the file pointed to is preserved. This /should/ work on all OS (and does on most) but on Windows the file is locked (and this is due to the way the file system handles things I imagine). So making [2..n] applications (completely independet of one another) all access a file synchronously difficult. Any ideas on a "workaround" for the Windows OS?