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Mandatory and advisory file and record locking both are available on current releases of the UNIX system. The intent of this capability to is provide a synchronization mechanism for programs accessing the same stores of data simultaneously. Such processing is characteristic of many multiuser applications, and the need for a standard method of dealing with the problem has been recognized by standards advocates like /usr/group, an organization of UNIX system users from businesses and campuses across the country.
Advisory file and record locking can be used to coordinate self-synchronizing processes. In mandatory locking, the standard I/O subroutines and I/O system calls enforce the locking protocol. In this way, at the cost of a little efficiency, mandatory locking double checks the programs against accessing the data out of sequence.
The remainder of this section describes how file and record locking capabilities can be used. Examples are given for the correct use of record locking. Misconceptions about the amount of protection that record locking affords are dispelled. Record locking should be viewed as a synchronization mechanism, not a security mechanism.
The manual pages for the fcntl system call, the lockf library function, and fcntl data structures and commands are referred to throughout this section (see fcntl(5)). You should read them before continuing.