@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@

[chiark-utils.git] / cprogs / with-lock-ex.1

diff --git a/cprogs/with-lock-ex.1 b/cprogs/with-lock-ex.1
index ce3f87fd1b840f86a584e3727ff18588a5a214d1..3715cd8a76b503b2ba81464e1d2362c78582d578 100644 (file)
--- a/cprogs/with-lock-ex.1
+++ b/cprogs/with-lock-ex.1
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 with-lock-ex \- file locker
 .SH SYNOPSIS
 .B with-lock-ex
 with-lock-ex \- file locker
 .SH SYNOPSIS
 .B with-lock-ex

-.RB [\| \-w \||\| \-q \||\| \-f \|]
+.BR \-w \||\| \-q \||\| \-f

 .I lockfile command 
 .IR args \ \|.\|.\|.
 .br
 .I lockfile command 
 .IR args \ \|.\|.\|.
 .br


@@ -21,14 +21,16 @@ for each user class for which the umask has
 .SH OPTIONS
 .TP
 .B \-w
 .SH OPTIONS
 .TP
 .B \-w

-wait for the lock
+Wait for the lock to be available.

 .TP
 .B \-f
 .TP
 .B \-f

-fail if the lock cannot be acquired
+Fail (printing a message to stderr and exiting 255) if the lock cannot
+be acquired immediately because another process has it.

 .TP
 .B \-q
 .TP
 .B \-q

-silently do nothing (ie, exit 0 instead of executing the specified
-process) if the lock cannot be acquired
+Silently do nothing (ie, exit 0 instead of executing the specified
+process) if the lock cannot be acquired immediately because another
+process has it.

 .SH STALE LOCKS
 The locking protocol used does not suffer from stale locks.  If the
 lock cannot be acquired, one or more running processes must currently
 .SH STALE LOCKS
 The locking protocol used does not suffer from stale locks.  If the
 lock cannot be acquired, one or more running processes must currently