How to check in a bash script if something is running and exit if it is

Question

I have a script that runs every 15 minutes but sometimes if the box is busy it hangs and the next process will start before the first one is finished creating a snowball effect.

Answer 1

Why don't set a lock file ?

Something like

yourapp.lock

Just remove it when you process is finished, and check for it before to launch it.

It could be done using

if [ -f yourapp.lock ]; then
echo "The process is already launched, please wait..."
fi