What does "quiescent" mean? - (nf)

[mwm at ea.UUCP]

#N:ea:13500016:000:1204
ea!mwm    May 22 10:19:00 1984

One of the things I envy those who run VMS about is the system dump that
works on an active file system. I'd like to try such things with the 4.2
restore, but the documentation recommends that the file system be
"quiescent." What I would like to know is what, exactly, does "quiescent"
mean? [Note: I'm running a 4.2 binary license, so I can't go look at the
source.]

For instance, I regularly dump mounted file systems, with files open for
reading. If that isn't safe, something is badly broken. The other pertinent
operations are writing, creating and deleting files. I think writing files
is safe, and the following conjecture is based on that assumption.

Since writing files is safe, creating them should be safe (write a
directory, and create a file that dump won't put on the tape). Deleting
files may be safe - an empty file and an error message should result.
Deleting and creating file during a dump could well produce problems (dump
grabs the inode, which now points to a different file...).

Could someone who knows please tell me how much of the above is wrong?
Better yet, list the subsets of {reading, writing, creating, deleting} that
it is safe to permit during a dump.

	Thanx,
	<mike