NAME

       rlock - run program with a lockfile

SYNOPSIS

       rlock [options] lockfile program [args]

       rlock [options] lockfile -- program options [args]

DESCRIPTION

       rlock  creates  NFS  safe  lockfiles.   it  can optionally run a program while holding the lock, ensuring
       lockfile removal on program exit.  if a program is specified to be run  rlock  will  spawn  a  background
       thread  to  kept  the  lockfile  'fresh'  by  touching  it at a regular interval.  in this way a lease is
       maintained on the lockfile and other processes attempting to obtain the lock can determine that it is  in
       use.   see  the  '--refresh'  option  for how to control the touch interval.  any other process trying to
       obtain a lock will automatically remove a stale lockfile; a stale lockfile is one that is  older  than  a
       certain age.  this age be controled via the '--max_age' option.

ENVIRONMENT

       LOCKFILE_DEBUG=1
              causes internal actions of the library to be shown on STDERR.

DIAGNOSTICS

       rlock attempts to exit with the status of 'program' except where it cannot due to exceptional conditions.
       in addition the message

       'RLOCK SUBCOMMAND FAILURE'

       will be printed on STDERR if 'program' exits with non-zero status.

AUTHOR

       lockfile was written by Ara T. Howard <ara.t.howard@noaa.gov>.

       This  manual  page was converted by Decklin Foster <decklin@red-bean.com> for the Debian project (but may
       be used by others).

                                                   2008-10-11                                           RLOCK(1)