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)