[misterhouse-users] Locking mechanisms...

[Don F. <do...@ma...>]

Howdy folks...

    Got a question about task locking mechanisms...  I'm not sure how many
people this would relate to, but....

I'm one of these people that don't have a high speed connection.  I use a
56K modem and connect to the internet when I need something and then log off
afterwards.  I know that the command 'start' sits and waits for the process
to finish, and then allows me to check a state (which I can use to drop my
internet connection).  A lot, such as tv_grid.pl, use the run command which
I believe runs the process in the background so Misterhouse doesn't stop and
wait for it to complete.

So, I believe I understand the difference between 'start' and 'run', but
with the run command, I have no idea when the process is done.  What would I
need to do to be able to tell when something like tv_grid.pl was finished so
I can drop my internet connection?

I've played around with the idea of creating lock files on the system so
that the process creates an 'I'm running' file and when its finished it
removes it.  It would also have to remove the lock files on restart of
Misterhouse.

I would find this type of thing useful - does a current mechanism exist to
do this?

Thanks...

Don