LockServer 0.9b - 7/14/2000
---------------------------

o What is LockServer?
-    Where I work, we have need of row locking for a database that doesn't
provide it.  The solution I came up with was to write a generic lock server
that could provide the functionality we needed.

o Ok, so how does it work?
-    The server itself is network based, and so far it seems to handle load
reasonably well.  Essentially, you make a request, it gets queued.  The 
server will return where you are in the queue.

o How does it REALLY work?
-    The storage mechanism is basically implemented as a hash of linked 
lists.  At this point, it would be generous to describe the hash algorithm
as pathetic; anybody who wants to offer suggestions is certainly welcome to.
The protocol the lock server uses is described in the PROTOCOL document that
should accompany this package.

o What platforms does LockServer run on?
-    To date, the LockServer has only been tried on linux (Intel and Sparc).
Portability was not a design concern so I'd be very interested to hear of
platforms it does and does not run on.  Anybody wishing to work on making
it run on other platforms is encouraged to do so.  Giving me access to 
other platforms to allow me to port it would also be appreciated.  You can
contact me a cole@tuininga.org.

o How do I use LockServer?
-    At this point, the only client software I know is some proprietary 
code that some coworkers wrote and cannot (unfotunately) be released under
the GPL.  If anybody wishes to make client code to access LockServer, I 
would be happy to make it available on my ftp server.  Guidelines and 
technical information on the LockServer are available in the PROTOCOL 
document.


Thanks to Eric Johnson and Robert Holak for development ideas and testing.