> As to write(2) being a "blocking syscall" in the technical sense, I don't think I agree either.
Well, you are wrong.
> Of course it has that potential, but a write(2) to a regular file does not block in the sense of an interruptible block, or in the sense that O_NONBLOCK or select() can be used to avoid it.
These have nothing whatsoever to do with whether a syscall is blocking or not. You can't use them on wait(2) either, can you?
Please stop arguing about things you clearly know nothing about.
You could have shown your true color outright and saved me the time. You don't care what I mean, you don't care what anybody means, you will just argue semantics to find a possible meaning where you're right. Well congrats.
Someone in your position should be posting questions, not arguments.
> Write calls to regular files will block until they are complete
I therefore understood "complete" to be the opposite to "only into buffers" in that context, e.g. all the way to disk. That is what I'm objecting to.
As to write(2) being a "blocking syscall" in the technical sense, I don't think I agree either. Of course it has that potential, but a write(2) to a regular file does not block in the sense of an interruptible block, or in the sense that O_NONBLOCK or select() can be used to avoid it. It is a "disk sleep" that is generally very different.