--- deliantra/server/lib/cf.pm	2007/05/05 05:40:27	1.263
+++ deliantra/server/lib/cf.pm	2007/05/06 05:44:48	1.264
@@ -369,10 +369,18 @@
 }
 
 sub write_runtime {
-   my $guard = cf::lock_acquire "write_runtime";
-
    my $runtime = "$LOCALDIR/runtime";
 
+   # first touch the runtime file to show we are still running:
+   # the fsync below can take a very very long time.
+
+   warn "touching runtime...\n";#d#
+   if (my $fh = aio_open $runtime, O_WRONLY, 0) {
+      utime undef, undef, $fh;
+   }
+
+   my $guard = cf::lock_acquire "write_runtime";
+
    warn "starting to write runtime...\n";#d#
    my $fh = aio_open "$runtime~", O_WRONLY | O_CREAT, 0644
       or return;
@@ -388,6 +396,9 @@
    aio_fsync $fh
       and return;
 
+   # touch it again to show we are up-to-date
+   utime undef, undef, $fh;
+
    close $fh
       or return;