When you open a ruleset, isba checks if a lock is present on it, and warns you if this is so. Then you can choose either to break the lock or to open the ruleset read-only.

If there is no lock on the ruleset you open, isba creates one. A lock is simply a file named .ruleset-name.lock located next to the source file ruleset-name.isba. The lock contains the following informations:

• the UID of the user that edits the ruleset
• the host which runs the isba process
• the date and time the ruleset was opened
• the display isba is running on.

This information is provided to you when you try to open a ruleset that is locked, so you can know if the lock is real or spurious.

If the lock is real, you may want to open this ruleset in read-only mode to be sure that simultaneous modification won't occur.

You can manually remove a lock by deleting the ".ruleset-name.lock" file.