sys-utils/flock.1

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  27 .TH FLOCK 1 "July 2014" "util-linux" "User Commands"
  28 .SH NAME
  29 flock \- manage locks from shell scripts
  30 .SH SYNOPSIS
  31 .B flock
  32 [options]
  33 .IR file | "directory command " [ arguments ]
  34 .br
  35 .B flock
  36 [options]
  37 .IR file | directory
  38 .BI \-c " command"
  39 .br
  40 .B flock
  41 .RI [options] " number"
  42 .SH DESCRIPTION
  43 This utility manages
  44 .BR flock (2)
  45 locks from within shell scripts or from the command line.
  46 .PP
  47 The first and second of the above forms wrap the lock around the execution of a
  48 .IR command ,
  49 in a manner similar to
  50 .BR su (1)
  51 or
  52 .BR newgrp (1).
  53 They lock a specified \fIfile\fR or \fIdirectory\fR, which is created (assuming
  54 appropriate permissions) if it does not already exist.  By default, if the
  55 lock cannot be immediately acquired,
  56 .B flock
  57 waits until the lock is available.
  58 .PP
  59 The third form uses an open file by its file descriptor \fInumber\fR.
  60 See the examples below for how that can be used.
  61 .SH OPTIONS
  62 .TP
  63 .BR \-c , " \-\-command " \fIcommand
  64 Pass a single \fIcommand\fR, without arguments, to the shell with
  65 .BR \-c .
  66 .TP
  67 .BR \-E , " \-\-conflict\-exit\-code " \fInumber
  68 The exit status used when the \fB\-n\fP option is in use, and the
  69 conflicting lock exists, or the \fB\-w\fP option is in use,
  70 and the timeout is reached.  The default value is \fB1\fR.
  71 The \fInumber\fR has to be in the range of 0 to 255.
  72 .TP
  73 .BR \-F , " \-\-no\-fork"
  74 Do not fork before executing
  75 .IR command .
  76 Upon execution the flock process is replaced by
  77 .I command
  78 which continues to hold the lock. This option is incompatible with
  79 \fB\-\-close\fR as there would otherwise be nothing left to hold the lock.
  80 .TP
  81 .BR \-e , " \-x" , " \-\-exclusive"
  82 Obtain an exclusive lock, sometimes called a write lock.  This is the
  83 default.
  84 .TP
  85 .BR \-n , " \-\-nb" , " \-\-nonblock"
  86 Fail rather than wait if the lock cannot be
  87 immediately acquired.
  88 See the
  89 .B \-E
  90 option for the exit status used.
  91 .TP
  92 .BR \-o , " \-\-close"
  93 Close the file descriptor on which the lock is held before executing
  94 .IR command .
  95 This is useful if
  96 .I command
  97 spawns a child process which should not be holding the lock.
  98 .TP
  99 .BR \-s , " \-\-shared"
 100 Obtain a shared lock, sometimes called a read lock.
 101 .TP
 102 .BR \-u , " \-\-unlock"
 103 Drop a lock.  This is usually not required, since a lock is automatically
 104 dropped when the file is closed.  However, it may be required in special
 105 cases, for example if the enclosed command group may have forked a background
 106 process which should not be holding the lock.
 107 .TP
 108 .BR \-w , " \-\-wait" , " \-\-timeout " \fIseconds
 109 Fail if the lock cannot be acquired within
 110 .IR seconds .
 111 Decimal fractional values are allowed.
 112 See the
 113 .B \-E
 114 option for the exit status used. The zero number of
 115 .I seconds
 116 is interpreted as \fB\-\-nonblock\fR.
 117 .TP
 118 .B \-\-verbose
 119 Report how long it took to acquire the lock, or why the lock could not be
 120 obtained.
 121 .TP
 122 .BR \-V , " \-\-version"
 123 Display version information and exit.
 124 .TP
 125 .BR \-h , " \-\-help"
 126 Display help text and exit.
 127 .SH EXIT STATUS
 128 The command uses
 129 .B sysexits.h
 130 exit status values for everything, except when using either of the options
 131 .B \-n
 132 or
 133 .B \-w
 134 which report a failure to acquire the lock with an exit status given by the
 135 .B \-E
 136 option, or 1 by default.  The exit status given by
 137 .B \-E has to be in the range of 0 to 255.
 138 .PP
 139 When using the \fIcommand\fR variant, and executing the child worked, then
 140 the exit status is that of the child command.
 141 .SH EXAMPLES
 142 Note that "shell> " in examples is a command line prompt.
 143 .TP
 144 shell1> flock /tmp \-c cat
 145 .TQ
 146 shell2> flock \-w .007 /tmp \-c echo; /bin/echo $?
 147 Set exclusive lock to directory /tmp and the second command will fail.
 148 .TP
 149 shell1> flock \-s /tmp \-c cat
 150 .TQ
 151 shell2> flock \-s \-w .007 /tmp \-c echo; /bin/echo $?
 152 Set shared lock to directory /tmp and the second command will not fail.
 153 Notice that attempting to get exclusive lock with second command would fail.
 154 .TP
 155 shell> flock \-x local-lock-file echo 'a b c'
 156 Grab the exclusive lock "local-lock-file" before running echo with 'a b c'.
 157 .TP
 158 (
 159 .TQ
 160   flock \-n 9 || exit 1
 161 .TQ
 162   # ... commands executed under lock ...
 163 .TQ
 164 ) 9>/var/lock/mylockfile
 165 The form is convenient inside shell scripts.  The mode used to open the file
 166 doesn't matter to
 167 .BR flock ;
 168 using
 169 .I >
 170 or
 171 .I >>
 172 allows the lockfile to be created if it does not already exist, however,
 173 write permission is required.  Using
 174 .I <
 175 requires that the file already exists but only read permission is required.
 176 .TP
 177 [ "${FLOCKER}" != "$0" ] && exec env FLOCKER="$0" flock \-en "$0" "$0" "$@" || :
 178 This is useful boilerplate code for shell scripts.  Put it at the top of the
 179 shell script you want to lock and it'll automatically lock itself on the first
 180 run.  If the env var $FLOCKER is not set to the shell script that is being run,
 181 then execute flock and grab an exclusive non-blocking lock (using the script
 182 itself as the lock file) before re-execing itself with the right arguments.  It
 183 also sets the FLOCKER env var to the right value so it doesn't run again.
 184 .TP
 185 shell> exec 4<>/var/lock/mylockfile
 186 .TQ
 187 shell> flock -n 4
 188 This form is convenient for locking a file without spawning a subprocess.
 189 The shell opens the lock file for reading and writing as file descriptor 4,
 190 then flock is used to lock the descriptor.
 191 .SH AUTHORS
 192 .UR hpa@zytor.com
 193 H. Peter Anvin
 194 .UE
 195 .SH COPYRIGHT
 196 Copyright \(co 2003\-2006 H. Peter Anvin.
 197 .br
 198 This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
 199 warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
 200 .SH SEE ALSO
 201 .BR flock (2)
 202 .SH AVAILABILITY
 203 The flock command is part of the util-linux package and is available from
 204 .UR https://\:www.kernel.org\:/pub\:/linux\:/utils\:/util-linux/
 205 Linux Kernel Archive
 206 .UE .