Megatest

    (begin
      (print "Usage: 
softlock lockfile command args ...

Softlock does weak, transient locking. This is useful to slow down a
deluge of events that can overwhelm hardware or software systems.

Locks are only good for two seconds, just enough time to spread things
Locks are only good for one second, just enough time to spread events
out.

On NFS file locking works well but the lock handling on the filers can
be overwhelmed by too many locks occuring too quickly. Jobs that must
use NFS file locks can use softlock to minimize the rate that the file
locks are created, preventing the NFS filer from being swamped.
On NFS the Unix file locking mechanism works well but lock handling on
the filers can be overwhelmed by many locks occuring quickly. Jobs
that must use NFS file locks can use softlock to minimize the rate
that the file locks are created, preventing the NFS filer from being
swamped.

Environment variables:

  SOFTLOCK_DEBUG_MODE - if defined enable some messages

WARNING: the file <lockfile>.softlock will be overwritten and removed by softlock!