NAME
flock - Manage locks from shell scripts
SYNOPSIS
flock [-sxon] [-w timeout] lockfile [-c] command...
flock [-sxon] [-w timeout] lockdir [-c] command...
flock [-sxun] [-w timeout] fd
DESCRIPTION
This utility manages flock(2) locks from within shell scripts or the
command line.
The first and second forms wraps the lock around the executing a
command, in a manner similar to su(1) or newgrp(1). It locks a
specified file or directory, which is created (assuming appropriate
permissions), if it does not already exist.
The third form is convenient inside shell scripts, and is usually used
the following manner:
(
flock -s 200
# ... commands executed under lock ...
) 200>/var/lock/mylockfile
The mode used to open the file doesn’t matter to flock; using > or >>
allows the lockfile to be created if it does not already exist,
however, write permission is required; using < requires that the file
already exists but only read permission is required.
By default, if the lock cannot be immediately acquired, flock waits
until the lock is available.
OPTIONS
-s, --shared
Obtain a shared lock, sometimes called a read lock.
-x, -e, --exclusive
Obtain an exclusive lock, sometimes called a write lock. This
is the default.
-u, --unlock
Drop a lock. This is usually not required, since a lock is
automatically dropped when the file is closed. However, it may
be required in special cases, for example if the enclosed
command group may have forked a background process which should
not be holding the lock.
-n, --nb, --nonblock
Fail (with an exit code of 1) rather than wait if the lock
cannot be immediately acquired.
-w, --wait, --timeout seconds
Fail (with an exit code of 1) if the lock cannot be acquired
within seconds seconds. Decimal fractional values are allowed.
-o, --close
Close the file descriptor on which the lock is held before
executing command. This is useful if command spawns a child
process which should not be hold ing the lock.
-c, --command command
Pass a single command to the shell with -c.
-h, --help
Print a help message.
AUTHOR
Written by H. Peter Anvin <hpa@zytor.com>.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2003-2006 H. Peter Anvin.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is
NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE.
SEE ALSO
flock(2)
AVAILABILITY
The flock command is part of the util-linux-ng package and is available
from ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux-ng/.