Python: module for creating PID-based lockfile?

Question

I\'m writing a Python script that may or may not (depending on a bunch of things) run for a long time, and I\'d like to make sure that multiple instances (started via cron)

Answer 1

I know this is an old thread, but I also created a simple lock which only relies on python native libraries:

import fcntl
import errno


class FileLock:
    def __init__(self, filename=None):
        self.filename = os.path.expanduser('~') + '/LOCK_FILE' if filename is None else filename
        self.lock_file = open(self.filename, 'w+')

    def unlock(self):
        fcntl.flock(self.lock_file, fcntl.LOCK_UN)

    def lock(self, maximum_wait=300):
        waited = 0
        while True:
            try:
                fcntl.flock(self.lock_file, fcntl.LOCK_EX | fcntl.LOCK_NB)
                return True
            except IOError as e:
                if e.errno != errno.EAGAIN:
                    raise e
                else:
                    time.sleep(1)
                    waited += 1
                    if waited >= maximum_wait:
                        return False