lockf(8)

💅 lockf — the manual page, but make it cute

okay bestie, welcome to the lockf(8) page, straight out of the System Manager's Manual. she's short, she's sweet, she's the group chat's designated lock-holder. let's get into it 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

lockf — lock files from within shell-scripts (used by sn news system)

like, the whole point of her. locking files. from inside shell-scripts. and yes, the sn news system is her whole reason for existing, we'll get to that 🫶

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

lockf

that's it. that's the whole synopsis. no flags, no arguments, no nothing. she said "I contain multitudes and zero options" 💅

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so here's the tea: lockf can be used to lock files from within shell-scripts. that's her job, that's her moment, that's her main character energy. 🔥

Filedescriptor 3 is always locked, and the lock remains until the process is killed. no cap, no negotiation, no "just this once" — fd 3 is locked and it stays locked until the process is gone. periodt. 💀

and here's the cute part: the process-id is written to standard output, as to facilitate killing the process. so she hands you the receipt so you know exactly who to yeet. it's giving "here's my number, call me maybe" but make it a PID. 😭

she's used by the sn news system. iconic behaviour, honestly. the sn news system said "I need a lock and I need it from a shell-script" and lockf said "say less" 👑

ngl bestie, that lock does NOT come off politely. the lock remains until the process is killed — so if you're the one holding it, keep that in mind before you go making plans. 🙈

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• sn(8) — the news system that keeps her booked and busy 💖

and that's the whole page, babes! this one came to you from the System Manager's Manual, and the footer is literally just lockf(8) — no date, no version number, nothing extra, she's mysterious like that 🧚 stay locked, stay iconic, and don't forget who's holding fd 3 💜✨