CGI failure Intermittent -- "Can't Open File"

[Sannyasin Sivakatirswami]

This one is a hair puller....possibly OT because it may have nothing to  
do with REV, but  I can't diagnose if the issue is Rev CGI that is  
receiving the POST, the Rev Application that is sending the POST, a  
permissions problem on the server, an Apache config problem or an OSX  
Server file system problem. I have a sinking feeling is the latter,  
which will be hard to tackle.

Simply stated: the CGI accepts incoming data from a POST and writes it  
to a file sometimes and sometimes it says it can't open the file. No  
pattern...

CONTEXT:

OSX server running Apache with a little "intranet" web site
Darwin version Rev engine 2.1.2 installed and functioning nicely

The remote app is running from a 2.2. standalone player, and does this:

on upLoadToKauai
   put fld "user" of stack "prefs" into tUser
   put "_remotestaff=" & urlEncode(tUser) into tUploadData
   put "&_project=" & urlEncode("gita") after tUploadData
   put "&_fileName=" & urlEncode(gFileName) after tUploadData
   put "&_transcript=" & urlEncode (gDataToUpload) after tUploadData
   put  
"http://user:pass@our.kauai.server.org/cgi-bin/ 
uploadGitaTranscript.cgi" into tURL
   POST tUploadData to url tURL
   put it into fld "feedBack"
   show fld "FeedBack" with visual effect dissolve
   show btn "Close" with visual effect dissolve
end upLoadToKauai

the CGI (truncated a bit for email purposes:) goes like this:

on startup

if $REQUEST_METHOD is "POST" then
read from stdin until empty
   put  urlDecode (it)  into tDataIn
     split tDataIn by "&" and "="
     put tDataIn["_remotestaff"] into tUser
     put tDataIn["_project"] into tProject
      put tDataIn["_transcript"] into tTranscript
      put tDataIn["_fileName"] into tfileName
put url "file:transcriptionTeam.txt" into tAuthenticate
if  (tUser is among the lines of tAuthenticate) then
  # set up a file path to the incoming transcription
  # it will just be a small xml file
   switch tProject
  case "taka"
  put "/taka/New-Not Yet Posted/" into tLocalDestination
  break
   case "gita"
  put "/gita/new_incoming/" into tLocalDestination
  break
  end switch
  put ("../remote-team/" & tUser & tLocalDestination & tFileName) into  
tFilePath

  # next: open, write data and close the file
## !! but here is the problem:
## this attempt to write a file fails intermittently...
# sometimes apache writes the file
# other times it returns "can't open file" to the result

put tTranscript into url ("file:" & tFilePath) ## fails intermittently

put the Result & cr & cr into tResponse # sometimes empty some times  
"can't open file"

## send stuff back to the user to confirm, along with the result

end start up

What is happening is when then the user clicks the button in the remote  
rev app, to trigger the upload to Kauai it may return result: "can't  
open file" then he clicks again  and this time gets no result and the  
file is written.  I thought it might be something in our fire wall, but  
I'm getting the same sporadic results over our LAN... whether I open  
the application in Rev IDE or open in from my new standalone HA Stack  
Player, I am also unable to discern any pattern as to when and why it  
can't open file... click 4 times, a file is written 4 times, on the  
fifth POST you get "can't open file" quit everything, go to the server,  
delete the file book the remote app again, upload and on first attempt,  
"can't open file" second attempt, file is written, third click, file is  
written, forth attempt, "can't open file" = no pattern.  Windows and  
Mac versions both display same behavior.

Any clues as to how to debug this?

Sannyasin Sivakatirswami
Himalayan Academy Publications
at Kauai's Hindu Monastery
katir at hindu.org

www.HimalayanAcademy.com,
www.HinduismToday.com
www.Gurudeva.org
www.Hindu.org