1Simple(3)             User Contributed Perl Documentation            Simple(3)
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NAME

6       LockFile::Simple - simple file locking scheme
7

SYNOPSIS

9        use LockFile::Simple qw(lock trylock unlock);
10
11        # Simple locking using default settings
12        lock("/some/file") || die "can't lock /some/file\n";
13        warn "already locked\n" unless trylock("/some/file");
14        unlock("/some/file");
15
16        # Build customized locking manager object
17        $lockmgr = LockFile::Simple->make(-format => '%f.lck',
18               -max => 20, -delay => 1, -nfs => 1);
19
20        $lockmgr->lock("/some/file") || die "can't lock /some/file\n";
21        $lockmgr->trylock("/some/file");
22        $lockmgr->unlock("/some/file");
23
24        $lockmgr->configure(-nfs => 0);
25
26        # Using lock handles
27        my $lock = $lockmgr->lock("/some/file");
28        $lock->release;
29

DESCRIPTION

31       This simple locking scheme is not based on any file locking system
32       calls such as "flock()" or "lockf()" but rather relies on basic file
33       system primitives and properties, such as the atomicity of the
34       "write()" system call. It is not meant to be exempt from all race
35       conditions, especially over NFS. The algorithm used is described below
36       in the ALGORITHM section.
37
38       It is possible to customize the locking operations to attempt locking
39       once every 5 seconds for 30 times, or delete stale locks (files that
40       are deemed too ancient) before attempting the locking.
41

ALGORITHM

43       The locking alogrithm attempts to create a lockfile using a temporarily
44       redefined umask (leaving only read rights to prevent further create
45       operations). It then writes the process ID (PID) of the process and
46       closes the file. That file is then re-opened and read. If we are able
47       to read the same PID we wrote, and only that, we assume the locking is
48       successful.
49
50       When locking over NFS, i.e. when the one of the potentially locking
51       processes could access the lockfile via NFS, then writing the PID is
52       not enough.  We also write the hostname where locking is attempted to
53       ensure the data are unique.
54

CUSTOMIZING

56       Customization is only possible by using the object-oriented interface,
57       since the configuration parameters are stored within the object. The
58       object creation routine "make" can be given configuration parmeters in
59       the form a "hash table list", i.e. a list of key/value pairs. Those
60       parameters can later be changed via "configure" by specifying a similar
61       list of key/value pairs.
62
63       To benefit from the bareword quoting Perl offers, all the parameters
64       must be prefixed with the "-" (minus) sign, as in "-format" for the
65       format parameter..  However, when querying the object, the minus must
66       be omitted, as in "$obj->format".
67
68       Here are the available configuration parmeters along with their
69       meaning, listed in alphabetical order:
70
71       autoclean
72           When true, all locks are remembered and pending ones are
73           automatically released when the process exits normally (i.e.
74           whenever Perl calls the END routines).
75
76       delay
77           The amount of seconds to wait between locking attempts when the
78           file appears to be already locked. Default is 2 seconds.
79
80       efunc
81           A function pointer to dereference when an error is to be reported.
82           By default, it redirects to the logerr() routine if you have
83           Log::Agent installed, to Perl's warn() function otherwise.
84
85           You may set it explicitely to "\&LockFile::Simple::core_warn" to
86           force the use of Perl's warn() function, or to "undef" to suppress
87           logging.
88
89       ext The locking extension that must be added to the file path to be
90           locked to compute the lockfile path. Default is ".lock" (note that
91           "." is part of the extension and can therefore be changed). Ignored
92           when format is also used.
93
94       format
95           Using this parmeter supersedes the ext parmeter. The formatting
96           string specified is run through a rudimentary macro expansion to
97           derive the lockfile path from the file to be locked. The following
98           macros are available:
99
100               %%  A real % sign
101               %f  The full file path name
102               %D  The directory where the file resides
103               %F  The base name of the file
104               %p  The process ID (PID)
105
106           The default is to use the locking extension, which itself is
107           ".lock", so it is as if the format used was "%f.lock", but one
108           could imagine things like "/var/run/%F.%p", i.e. the lockfile does
109           not necessarily lie besides the locked file (which could even be
110           missing).
111
112           When locking, the locking format can be specified to supersede the
113           object configuration itself.
114
115       hold
116           Maximum amount of seconds we may hold a lock. Past that amount of
117           time, an existing lockfile is removed, being taken for a stale
118           lock. Default is 3600 seconds. Specifying 0 prevents any forced
119           unlocking.
120
121       max Amount of times we retry locking when the file is busy, sleeping
122           delay seconds between attempts. Defaults to 30.
123
124       nfs A boolean flag, false by default. Setting it to true means we could
125           lock over NFS and therefore the hostname must be included along
126           with the process ID in the stamp written to the lockfile.
127
128       stale
129           A boolean flag, false by default. When set to true, we attempt to
130           detect stale locks and break them if necessary.
131
132       wafter
133           Stands for warn after. It is the number of seconds past the first
134           warning during locking time after which a new warning should be
135           emitted.  See warn and wmin below. Default is 20.
136
137       warn
138           A boolean flag, true by default. To suppress any warning, set it to
139           false.
140
141       wfunc
142           A function pointer to dereference when a warning is to be issued.
143           By default, it redirects to the logwarn() routine if you have
144           Log::Agent installed, to Perl's warn() function otherwise.
145
146           You may set it explicitely to "\&LockFile::Simple::core_warn" to
147           force the use of Perl's warn() function, or to "undef" to suppress
148           logging.
149
150       wmin
151           The minimal amount of time when waiting for a lock after which a
152           first warning must be emitted, if warn is true. After that, a
153           warning will be emitted every wafter seconds. Defaults to 15.
154
155       Each of those configuration attributes can be queried on the object
156       directly:
157
158           $obj = LockFile::Simple->make(-nfs => 1);
159           $on_nfs = $obj->nfs;
160
161       Those are pure query routines, i.e. you cannot say:
162
163           $obj->nfs(0);                  # WRONG
164           $obj->configure(-nfs => 0);    # Right
165
166       to turn of the NFS attribute. That is because my OO background chokes
167       at having querying functions with side effects.
168

INTERFACE

170       The OO interface documented below specifies the signature and the
171       semantics of the operations. Only the "lock", "trylock" and "unlock"
172       operation can be imported and used via a non-OO interface, with the
173       exact same signature nonetheless.
174
175       The interface contains all the attribute querying routines, one for
176       each configuration parmeter documented in the CUSTOMIZING section
177       above, plus, in alphabetical order:
178
179       configure(-key => value, -key2 => value2, ...)
180           Change the specified configuration parameters and silently ignore
181           the invalid ones.
182
183       lock(file, format)
184           Attempt to lock the file, using the optional locking format if
185           specified, otherwise using the default format scheme configured in
186           the object, or by simply appending the ext extension to the file.
187
188           If the file is already locked, sleep delay seconds before retrying,
189           repeating try/sleep at most max times. If warning is configured, a
190           first warning is emitted after waiting for wmin seconds, and then
191           once every wafter seconds, via  the wfunc routine.
192
193           Before the first attempt, and if hold is non-zero, any existing
194           lockfile is checked for being too old, and it is removed if found
195           to be stale. A warning is emitted via the wfunc routine in that
196           case, if allowed.
197
198           Likewise, if stale is non-zero, a check is made to see whether any
199           locking process is still around (only if the lock holder is on the
200           same machine when NFS locking is configured). Should the locking
201           process be dead, the lockfile is declared stale and removed.
202
203           Returns a lock handle if the file has been successfully locked,
204           which does not necessarily needs to be kept around. For instance:
205
206               $obj->lock('ppp', '/var/run/ppp.%p');
207               <do some work>
208               $obj->unlock('ppp');
209
210           or, using OO programming:
211
212               my $lock = $obj->lock('ppp', '/var/run/ppp.%p') ||;
213                   die "Can't lock for ppp\n";
214               <do some work>
215               $lock->relase;   # The only method defined for a lock handle
216
217           i.e. you don't even have to know which file was locked to release
218           it, since there is a lock handle right there that knows enough
219           about the lock parameters.
220
221       lockfile(file, format)
222           Simply compute the path of the lockfile that would be used by the
223           lock procedure if it were passed the same parameters.
224
225       make(-key => value, -key2 => value2, ...)
226           The creation routine for the simple lock object. Returns a blessed
227           hash reference.
228
229       trylock(file, format)
230           Same as lock except that it immediately returns false and does not
231           sleep if the to-be-locked file is busy, i.e. already locked. Any
232           stale locking file is removed, as lock would do anyway.
233
234           Returns a lock hande if the file has been successfully locked.
235
236       unlock(file)
237           Unlock the file.
238

BUGS

240       The algorithm is not bullet proof.  It's only reasonably safe.  Don't
241       bet the integrity of a mission-critical database on it though.
242
243       The sysopen() call should probably be used with the "O_EXCL|O_CREAT"
244       flags to be on the safer side. Still, over NFS, this is not an atomic
245       operation anyway.
246
247       BEWARE: there is a race condition between the time we decide a lock is
248       stale or too old and the time we unlink it. Don't use "-stale" and set
249       "-hold" to 0 if you can't bear with that idea, but recall that this
250       race only happens when something is already wrong. That does not make
251       it right, nonetheless. ;-)
252

AUTHOR

254       Raphael Manfredi <Raphael_Manfredi@pobox.com>
255

SEE ALSO

257       File::Flock(3).
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259
260
261perl v5.28.1                      2012-06-01                         Simple(3)
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