File withlock-README.SuSE of Package withlock

= About =

withlock is a locking wrapper script to make sure that some program isn't run
more than once. It is ideal to prevent periodic jobs spawned by cron from
stacking up. 

The locks created are valid only while the wrapper is running, and thus will
never require a cleanup, as after a reboot. Thus, the wrapper is safe and easy
to use, and much better than implementing half-hearted locking within scripts. 

= Usage =

Usage is simple. Instead of your command 
   CMD ARGS...
you simply use 
   withlock LOCKFILE CMD ARGS...
Run withlock --help to see more options. 

Note: the lockfile LOCKFILE must not be placed in a publicly writable
directory, because that would allow a symlink attack. For that reason, 
withlock disallows lockfiles in such locations.