965    create = ((flags & WT_FS_OPEN_CREATE) != 0);
 966    if (!create) {
 967        ret = stat(name, &sb);
 968        if (ret != 0 && errno != ENOENT) {
 969            ret = local_err(local, session, errno, "%s: local_open stat", name);
 970            goto err;
 971        }
 972        exists = (ret == 0);
 973    } else
 974        exists = false; // If `create` was true then `exists` gets set to false.
 975    if (create || exists) {
 976        /* The file has not been flushed, use the file directly in the file system. */
 977        if ((local_fh->path = strdup(name)) == NULL) {
 978            ret = local_err(local, session, ENOMEM, "local_open");
 979            goto err;
 980        }
 981    } else {
 982        if ((ret = local_location_path(file_system, name, &local_fh->path)) != 0)
 983            goto err;
 984        ret = stat(local_fh->path, &sb);
 985        if (ret != 0 && errno != ENOENT) {
 986            ret = local_err(local, session, errno, "%s: local_open stat", local_fh->path);
 987            goto err;
 988        }
 989        exists = (ret == 0);
 990    }
 991    /*
 992     * TODO: tiered: If the file doesn't exist locally, make a copy of it from the cloud here.
 993     *
 994     */
 995#if 0
 996    if ((flags & WT_FS_OPEN_READONLY) != 0 && !exists) {
 997    }
 998#endif
 999
1000    if (create && !exists) { // Redundant check on `exists`.