struct flock is posix defined locking mechanism on *nix platform
Example usage (copied from https://gavv.github.io/articles/file-locks/) :
#include <fcntl.h>
struct flock fl;
memset(&fl, 0, sizeof(fl));
// lock in shared mode
fl.l_type = F_RDLCK;
// lock entire file
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)
fl.l_pid = 0; // F_SETLK(W) ignores it; F_OFD_SETLK(W) requires it to be zero
// F_SETLKW specifies blocking mode
if (fcntl(fd, F_SETLKW, &fl) == -1) {
exit(1);
}
// 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;
fl.l_start = 10;
fl.l_len = 5;
// F_SETLKW specifies non-blocking mode
if (fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) == -1) {
exit(1);
}
// release lock for bytes in range [10; 15)
fl.l_type = F_UNLCK;
if (fcntl(fd, F_SETLK, &fl) == -1) {
exit(1);
}
// close file and release locks for all regions
// remember that locks are released when process calls close()
// on any descriptor for a lock file
close(fd);
4lDO2