File locks

Syntax#

int fcntl(int fd, int cmd, struct flock*);
int lockf(int fd, int cmd, off_t len);

POSIX record locks (fcntl)

This example demonstrates usage of POSIX record locks (a.k.a. process-associated locks), provided by fcntl function (POSIX base standard).

Notes:

Exclusive and shared locks are supported.
Can be applied to a byte range, optionally automatically expanding when data is appended in future (controlled by struct flock).
Locks are released on first close by the locking process of any file descriptor for the file, or when process terminates.

#include <stdlib.h>  /* for exit() */
#include <stdio.h>   /* for perror() */
#include <string.h>  /* for memset() */
#include <unistd.h>  /* for close() */
#include <fcntl.h>   /* for open(), fcntl() */

int main(int argc, char **argv) {
    /* open file
     * we need O_RDWR for F_SETLK */
    int fd = open(argv[1], O_RDWR);
    if (fd == -1) {
        perror("open");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    struct flock fl;
    memset(&fl, 0, sizeof(fl));

    /* lock entire file */
    fl.l_type = F_RDLCK;    /* F_RDLCK is shared lock */
    fl.l_whence = SEEK_SET; /* offset base is start of the file */
    fl.l_start = 0;         /* starting offset is zero */
    fl.l_len = 0;           /* len is zero, which is a special value
                               representing end of file (no matter
                               how large the file grows in future) */

    /* F_SETLKW specifies blocking mode */
    if (fcntl(fd, F_SETLKW, &fl) == -1) {
        perror("fcntl(F_SETLKW)");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    /* atomically upgrade shared lock to exclusive lock, but only
     * for bytes in range [10; 15)
     *
     * after this call, the process will hold three lock regions:
     *   [0; 10)        - shared lock
     *   [10; 15)       - exclusive lock
     *   [15; SEEK_END) - shared lock
     */
    fl.l_type = F_WRLCK;    /* F_WRLCK is exclusive lock */
    fl.l_whence = SEEK_SET;
    fl.l_start = 10;
    fl.l_len= 5;

    /* F_SETLKW specifies non-blocking mode */
    if (fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) == -1) {
        perror("fcntl(F_SETLK)");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    /* release lock for bytes in range [10; 15) */
    fl.l_type = F_UNLCK;

    if (fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) == -1) {
        perror("fcntl(F_SETLK)");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    /* close file and release locks for all regions
     * note that locks are released when process calls close() on any
     * descriptor for a lock file */
    close(fd);

    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

lockf function

This example demonstrates usage of lockf function (POSIX XSI).

Notes:

Only exclusive locks are supported.
Can be applied to a byte range, optionally automatically expanding when data is appended in future (controlled by len argument and position set with lseek function).
Locks are released on first close by the locking process of any file descriptor for the file, or when process terminates.
The interaction between fcntl and lockf locks is unspecified. On Linux, lockf is a wrapper for POSIX record locks.

#include <stdlib.h>  /* for exit() */
#include <stdio.h>   /* for perror() */
#include <unistd.h>  /* for lockf(), lseek() */
#include <fcntl.h>   /* for open() */

int main(int argc, char **argv) {
    /* open file
     * we need O_RDWR for lockf */
    int fd = open(argv[1], O_RDWR);
    if (fd == -1) {
        perror("open");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    /* set current position to byte 10 */
    if (lseek(fd, 10, SEEK_SET) == -1) {
        perror("lseek");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    /* acquire exclusive lock for bytes in range [10; 15)
     * F_LOCK specifies blocking mode */
    if (lockf(fd, F_LOCK, 5) == -1) {
        perror("lockf(LOCK)");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    /* release lock for bytes in range [10; 15) */
    if (lockf(fd, F_ULOCK, 5) == -1) {
        perror("lockf(ULOCK)");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}