Chapter 55: File locking

Previous chapters have covered various techniques that processes can use to synchronize their actions, including signals (Chapters 20, 21, and 22) and semaphores (Chapters 47 and 53). In this chapter, we look at further synchronization techniques designed specifically for use with files.

55 File Locking
55.1 Overview
55.2 File Locking with flock()
        55.2.1 Semantics of Lock Inheritance and Release
        55.2.2 Limitations of flock()
55.3 Record Locking with fcntl()
        55.3.1 Deadlock
        55.3.2 Example: An Interactive Locking Program
        55.3.3 Example: A Library of Locking Functions
        55.3.4 Lock Limits and Performance
        55.3.5 Semantics of Lock Inheritance and Release
        55.3.6 Lock Starvation and Priority of Queued Lock Requests
55.4 Mandatory Locking
55.5 The /proc/locks File
55.6 Running Just One Instance of a Program
55.7 Older Locking Techniques
55.8 Summary
55.9 Exercises