xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/lockf/lockf.1 (revision 380a989b3223d455375b4fae70fd0b9bdd43bafb)
1.\"
2.\" Copyright (C) 1998 John D. Polstra.  All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
6.\" are met:
7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
8.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
10.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
11.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
12.\"
13.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY JOHN D. POLSTRA AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
14.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
15.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
16.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL JOHN D. POLSTRA OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
17.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
18.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
19.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
20.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
21.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
22.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
23.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
24.\"
25.\" $Id: lockf.1,v 1.5 1998/03/23 07:44:28 charnier Exp $
26.\"
27.Dd July 7, 1998
28.Os FreeBSD
29.Dt LOCKF 1
30.Sh NAME
31.Nm lockf
32.Nd execute a command while holding a file lock
33.Sh SYNOPSIS
34.Nm
35.Op Fl ks
36.Op Fl t Ar seconds
37.Ar file
38.Ar command
39.Op Ar arguments
40.Sh DESCRIPTION
41The
42.Nm
43utility acquires an exclusive lock on a
44.Ar file ,
45creating it if necessary.
46While holding the lock, it executes a
47.Ar command
48with optional
49.Ar arguments .
50After the
51.Ar command
52completes,
53.Nm
54releases the lock, and removes the
55.Ar file
56unless the
57.Fl k
58option is specified.  BSD-style locking is used, as described in
59.Xr flock 2 ;
60the mere existence of the
61.Ar file
62is not considered to constitute a lock.
63.Pp
64The following options are supported:
65.Bl -tag -width Fl
66.It Fl k
67Causes the lock file to be kept (not removed) after the command
68completes.
69.It Fl s
70Causes
71.Nm
72to operate silently.
73Failure to acquire the lock is indicated only in the exit status.
74.It Fl t Ar seconds
75Specifies a timeout for waiting for the lock.  By default,
76.Nm
77waits indefinitely to acquire the lock.
78If a timeout is specified with this option,
79.Nm
80will wait at most the given number of
81.Ar seconds
82before giving up.  A timeout of 0 may be given, in which case
83.Nm
84will fail unless it can acquire the lock immediately.
85.El
86.Pp
87In no event will
88.Nm
89break a lock that is held by another process.
90.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
91If
92.Nm
93successfully acquires the lock, it returns the exit status produced by
94.Ar command .
95Otherwise, it returns one of the exit codes defined in
96.Xr sysexits 3 ,
97as follows:
98.Bl -tag -width F_CANTCREATX
99.It Dv EX_TEMPFAIL
100The specified lock file was already locked by another process.
101.It Dv EX_CANTCREAT
102.Nm
103was unable to create the lock file, e.g., because of insufficient access
104privileges.
105.It Dv EX_USAGE
106There was an error on the
107.Nm
108command line.
109.It Dv EX_OSERR
110A system call (e.g., fork) failed unexpectedly.
111.El
112.Sh SEE ALSO
113.Xr flock 2 ,
114.Xr sysexits 3
115.Sh AUTHORS
116.An John Polstra Aq jdp@polstra.com .
117