Re: ITP: hatools -- The halockrun program provides a simple way to implement locking in shell scripts.

[Tollef Fog Heen <tfheen@err.no>]

* Igshaan Mesias 

| Hi
| 
| > | On Jun 18, Igshaan Mesias <igshaan.mesias@gmail.com> wrote:
| > | 
| > | >   Description     : The halockrun program provides a simple way to
| > | > implement locking in shell scripts.
| > | 
| > | What does this offer over lockfile (procmail package) or dotlockfile
| > | (liblockfile1 package)?
| Aren't those used particularly for mailbox locking? The hatools package
| provides a wider application set for locking files.
| 
| > Or even flock(1), which is part of util-linux.
| 
| The major benefit halockrun has over these tools is that you can't have
| stale lock files with its implementation.

How can you have stale lock files with flock?  flock(2) (which
flock(1) uses) operates on open files and those are always closed when
a process ends.

[...]

| halockrun also works on NFS shares if lockd is running. The node which
| hosts the halockrun instance which holds the lock will also take care
| not to stale the lock (the kernel again, not the user space). without
| having done any deeper checks, ITUMO more robust that dotlockrun.

This is something flock does not do; it does not lock over NFS.

-- 
Tollef Fog Heen
UNIX is user friendly, it's just picky about who its friends are