Individuals using personal encrypt could lock personal files, Life Support, Edmod, and certain proprietary data crystals; such encrypted crystals could not be accessed by anyone else.
The simplest method of preventing "concurrent access" problems involves locking files so that only one developer at a time has write access to the central "repository" copies of those files.
Several companies make software in which a signature-ready sign-on screen pops up to lock the computer or important files.
The chaos in the place at the moment actually worked to his benefit somewhat--it meant, among other things, that there had been no time to lock files away securely.
As with similar systems, users do not have to lock files in order to work on them and are required to resolve concurrent, committed changes before submitting their work.
Next time, remember to lock files like that if you don't want most of the Science section, or me, to be reading it.
Not a random password, but one you've obviously used to lock very routine files as well.
Unix-like operating systems (including Linux and Apple's OS X) do not normally automatically lock open files or running programs.
This is an exception to the earlier statement that Unix does not automatically lock open files.
A lock file is often the best approach if the resource to be controlled is not a regular file at all, so using methods for locking files does not apply.