File locked" error when running a batch job

• Article Type: General
• Product: Aleph
• Product Version: 20, 21, 22, 23

Description:
A batch job fails with a message like this: I/O error : file 'TP1' error code: 9/065 (ANS74), pc=0, call=1, seg=0 65 File locked

Resolution:
This means that a file this job wants to create/use already exists and is in use by another job.

1. this run of the job started before a previous run of the same job finished;
2. a previous run of this job "hung" and you did not kill all of the job's processes or didn't delete a $data_scratch or $alephe_scratch lock file before resubmitting it; or
3. multiple lib_batch processes running for the library are allowing multiple versions of the same job to run simultaneously. (See Article 000033195 ("File locked" error; job being started before preceding job has finished") (link below).

You can check the procedure in the $aleph_proc to see what the file is.

For example, in the procedure p_cir_51, we see this:

cd $data_scratch
setenv dd_TP1 cir_51_1.scr

Thus, you should check for a cir_51_1.scr file in the $data_scratch directory.

Also, you should check for a lock file in $alephe_scratch, such as, usm50_p_cir_51.5421.lock .

Any lock files for a job which is not currently running should be deleted. Then resubmit the job.

Note: "library locked" is an entirely different message.

With the exception of Case #3 (multiple lib_batch processes), this should not happen in version 21 because the jobs have been changed to include a "datex" timestamp (yyyymmdd.hhmmss) in the workfile name.