title: How do I make sure my bash script isn't already running?
body: <p>I have a bash script I want to run every 5 minutes from cron... but there's a chance the previous run of the script isn't done yet... in this case, i want the new run to just exit. I don't want to rely on just a lock file in /tmp.. I want to make sure sure the process is actually running before i honor the lock file (or whatever)... </p>
  
  <p>Here is what I have stolen from the internet so far... how do i smarten it up a bit? or is there a completely different way that's better?</p>
  
  <pre><code>if [ -f /tmp/mylockFile ] ; then
    echo 'Script is still running'
  else
    echo 1 &gt; /tmp/mylockFile
    /* Do some stuff */
    rm -f /tmp/mylockFile
  fi
  </code></pre>