Cannot lock a file.

[Hon Seng Phuah]

Hi all,

I have following code:

use 5.004'
use Fcntl ':flock';

sub check_file_status
{
$attempt_lock = 0;
$max_attempts = 3;
open(in_file, "$check_in_file_name");
while (!flock(in_file, LOCK_EX) && $attemp_lock < $max_attempts)
{
sleep(5);

}
close(in_file);
}

I cannot get the exlusive lock for the $check_in_file_name variable
file name. Any idea? How should I correct my mistake?

[Alex939393929]

hs*****@usa.com (Hon Seng Phuah) wrote in message news:<38**************************@posting.google. com>...

Hi all,

I have following code:

use 5.004'
use Fcntl ':flock';

sub check_file_status
{
$attempt_lock = 0;
$max_attempts = 3;
open(in_file, "$check_in_file_name");
while (!flock(in_file, LOCK_EX) && $attemp_lock < $max_attempts)
{
sleep(5);

}
close(in_file);
}

I cannot get the exlusive lock for the $check_in_file_name variable
file name. Any idea? How should I correct my mistake?

tried it with perl 5.6.0, no problemo, note flock does not
work for network files (e.g. files retrieved via nfs mount point).
see perldoc -f flock

use 5.004;
use Fcntl ':flock';

sub check_file_status
{
$attempt_lock = 0;
$max_attempts = 3;
my $check_in_file_name = 'file1.txt';
open(in_file, "<$check_in_file_name")||print "$check_in_file_name:$!\n";
while (!flock(in_file, LOCK_EX) && $attemp_lock < $max_attempts)
{
print "lock attempt $!\n";
sleep(5);
$attemp_lock++;

}
close(in_file);
}

check_file_status();

[Hon Seng Phuah]

If I change the open to be write. the flock return 1. Why open read
file cannot use exclusive lock like my case below? Does anyone have
any idea?

-HS Phuah

hs*****@usa.com (Hon Seng Phuah) wrote in message news:<38**************************@posting.google. com>...

Hi all,

I have following code:

use 5.004'
use Fcntl ':flock';

sub check_file_status
{
$attempt_lock = 0;
$max_attempts = 3;
open(in_file, "$check_in_file_name");
while (!flock(in_file, LOCK_EX) && $attemp_lock < $max_attempts)
{
sleep(5);

}
close(in_file);
}

I cannot get the exlusive lock for the $check_in_file_name variable
file name. Any idea? How should I correct my mistake?

[nobull]

hs*****@usa.com (Hon Seng Phuah) wrote in message news:<38**************************@posting.google. com>...

If I change the open to be write. the flock return 1. Why open read
file cannot use exclusive lock like my case below? Does anyone have
any idea?

To prevent denial of service attacks. (It's an OS feature, nothing to
do with Perl).

Some OSs go futher and disallow taking a shared lock if you have the
file open write-only, which, IMNSHO is just plain dumb.

while (!flock(in_file, LOCK_EX) && $attemp_lock < $max_attempts)
{
sleep(5);
}

You have not specified LOCK_NB. There's no point having a re-try
loop. If a blocking flock() fails it is usually because the
filehandle (or the file) in question is of a type that doesn't support
the type of locking locking you are asking for. This isn't something
that will change in 5 seconds.

Oh, and BTW you forgot to increment your counter.

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