Hi everyone,

I use an external file for quickly importing large amounts of data.
The application periodically checks to see if new files are present
in an import directory.

If it finds any file(s) present, it rewrites them as the external
file used by Firebird. It then calls a stored procedure which imports
the file into a table in the database.

Up until here, it works very well.

My problem happens when the application checks for a second time, and
finds a file present. Firebird maintains a lock on the external file,
so I cannot write to it.

How can I release this lock?

The application is written in Delphi 5. It runs on Windows XP, 2000,
and 9x. We are using Interbase 6.x or Firebird 1.5 (depends on the
installation).

If I re - start the server, the lock is released. Can I release the
lock without having to restart the server?

If so, how?

Thanks

Tim