ipc-lock 0.1.2

Cross-process named locks using std::fs::File::lock() on Unix and CreateMutexW on Windows
Documentation

ipc-lock

crates.io docs.rs license

Cross-process named locks for Rust.

Works across both threads and processes on the same machine. The cross-platform code uses no unsafe; platform-specific Win32 calls are contained in a small, scoped module.

MSRV: Rust 1.89+

Platform support

Platform Mechanism
Unix (Linux, macOS, …) flock(2) via std::fs::File::lock()
Windows CreateMutexW (kernel named mutex, Global\ namespace)

Usage

[dependencies]
ipc-lock = "0.1"

use ipc_lock::{Lock, Result};

fn main() -> Result<()> {
    let lock = Lock::new("my-app")?;
    let _guard = lock.lock()?;   // blocks until the lock is free
    // critical section …
    Ok(())                        // _guard dropped → lock released automatically
}

Lock is cheaply cloneable — all clones share the same underlying state:

let lock  = Lock::new("my-app")?;
let other = lock.clone();        // O(1) Arc clone, same lock

let _guard = lock.lock()?;
assert!(other.try_lock().is_err()); // WouldBlock

Name rules

  • Must not be empty.
  • Must not contain \0, /, or \.

On Unix the lock file is placed at $TMPDIR/<name>.lock (falling back to /tmp/<name>.lock). Use [Lock::with_path] to specify an exact path.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.