Print progress at once off a terminal, keep warnings out of redraws (closes #13)

When stderr is not a terminal, each phase prints its zero-state line
as it starts instead of after its first item. stderrIsTTY uses
term.IsTerminal from golang.org/x/term, now a direct dependency, so
/dev/null is no longer taken for a terminal.

A spinner keeps the library's background redraw, so its count and
elapsed time stay current while a phase waits for its next item. A
warning printed during a spinner phase goes through the bar
(progressbar.Bprintln), which prints it before its next redraw instead
of racing it. Bars with a total have no background redraw and still
print warnings directly.

Model: opus-5-5

README.md

@@ -114,9 +114,8 @@ Goals, in order:
 -   Dependencies: standard library, `github.com/spf13/cobra` for the
     CLI, **one progress-bar library**
     (`github.com/schollz/progressbar/v3`), `golang.org/x/term` to tell
-    whether stderr is a terminal, **one SQLite driver**
+    whether stderr is a terminal, and **one SQLite driver**
-    (`modernc.org/sqlite`, pure Go, so builds keep cgo disabled), and
+    (`modernc.org/sqlite`, pure Go, so builds keep cgo disabled).
-    `golang.org/x/sys` for `flock(2)` (the scan lock, see "Database").
     `github.com/spf13/viper` is permitted if configuration-file support
     is ever needed, but is not currently used. No other third-party
     deps.
@@ -154,20 +153,6 @@ All three subcommands operate on a single SQLite database file:
     use. `report` and `trees` require an existing database; a missing
     database file is a fatal error (exit 1) telling the user to run
     `scan` first.
--   Only one `scan` runs against a database at a time. For its whole
-    run, `scan` holds an exclusive `flock(2)` lock on a lock file
-    beside the database, named by appending `.lock` to the database
-    path (`/var/lib/sfdupes/db.sqlite.lock` by default), taken before
-    it walks the filesystem or opens the database. A second `scan`
-    against the same database does not wait: it fails at once with a
-    one-line error naming the lock file and exits 1, without walking
-    anything or opening the database, and the running scan carries on.
-    The lock file is created on first use, open to its owner only, and
-    left in place: a leftover file blocks nothing, because the lock
-    ends with the process holding it however it ends, a fatal error or
-    an interrupt included, and deleting the file while a scan runs
-    would let a second scan start. `report` and `trees` never take the
-    lock, so they run during a scan.
 -   While `scan` runs, the database is in WAL journal mode with a busy
     timeout, so running a report while a cron `scan` is in progress is
     safe. The filesystem is authoritative; the database is an
@@ -589,10 +574,9 @@ Additional requirements:
 ### Error handling and exit codes
 
 -   `0`: success, even if individual files were skipped with warnings.
--   `1`: fatal error (e.g., a `PATH` operand does not exist, another
+-   `1`: fatal error (e.g., a `PATH` operand does not exist, the
-    `scan` is already running against the same database, the database
+    database cannot be created/opened/read/written, a missing database
-    cannot be created/opened/read/written, a missing database for
+    for `report`/`trees`, stdout write failure).
-    `report`/`trees`, stdout write failure).
 -   `2`: usage error (including `scan` with no `PATH` operand and
     `report`/`trees` with any positional argument).
 
@@ -745,7 +729,7 @@ All of the following, run in this directory, must pass:
 
     ```sh
     d=$(mktemp -d)
-    export SFDUPES_DATABASE="$(mktemp -d)/db.sqlite"
+    export SFDUPES_DATABASE="$d/db.sqlite"
     mkdir -p "$d/a" "$d/b"
     head -c 2000 /dev/urandom > "$d/a/one.bin"
     cp "$d/a/one.bin" "$d/b/copy.bin"
@@ -773,9 +757,9 @@ All of the following, run in this directory, must pass:
     ./sfdupes report
     ```
 
-    (The database lives in a temp directory of its own: inside `$d`,
+    (The scan database lives inside `$d` here purely for test hygiene;
-    the scan would record it, and its empty lock file would join the
+    scanning `$d` therefore also records the SQLite file itself, which
-    `empty1`/`empty2` group.)
+    is harmless.)
 
     Expected from the first `report`: `one.bin`/`copy.bin`/`copy2.bin`
     form one group (two dupe rows, `first` is the lexicographically

TODO.md

@@ -33,10 +33,6 @@
   and prints warnings through a spinner instead of racing its redraw
   (2026-10-03, https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/sfdupes/issues/13)
 
-- `scan` holds a lock on a lock file beside the database for its whole run,
-  so a second `scan` fails at once with exit 1 (2026-10-03,
-  https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/sfdupes/issues/53)
-
 - test stdout write failures in `report` and `trees`; README states that
   `| head` ends sfdupes by `SIGPIPE` and `>&-` writes to `/dev/null`
   (2026-10-03, https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/sfdupes/issues/30)

db.go

@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ import (
 	"slices"
 	"strconv"
 
-	"golang.org/x/sys/unix"
 	// The pure-Go SQLite driver, registered as "sqlite"; keeps cgo
 	// disabled.
 	_ "modernc.org/sqlite"
@@ -33,11 +32,6 @@ const schemaVersion = 1
 // scan.
 const dbDirPerm = 0o755
 
-// lockFilePerm is the mode for the scan lock file. Anyone who can open
-// the file can hold the lock and keep every scan from running, so it
-// is open to its owner only.
-const lockFilePerm = 0o600
-
 // createTableSQL is the schema applied to a fresh database. Paths are
 // BLOBs because Unix paths are raw bytes, not guaranteed UTF-8.
 const createTableSQL = `
@@ -70,10 +64,6 @@ var errNoDatabase = errors.New(
 // does not understand.
 var errSchemaVersion = errors.New("unsupported database schema version")
 
-// errScanRunning reports that another scan holds the lock on the
-// database.
-var errScanRunning = errors.New("another scan is running")
-
 // databasePath resolves the database location: SFDUPES_DATABASE when
 // set and non-empty, the compiled-in default otherwise.
 func databasePath() string {
@@ -114,43 +104,6 @@ func openDB(path, params string) (*sql.DB, error) {
 	return db, nil
 }
 
-// lockScanDatabase takes the lock that keeps a second scan off the
-// database at path: an exclusive flock(2) on the file beside it named
-// path with ".lock" appended, created along with the database's parent
-// directory if missing. A lock held by another scan fails at once
-// instead of waiting. The lock lasts until the returned file is closed
-// or the process ends. The file is never deleted: a scan that deleted
-// it would let the next scan lock a new file while another still holds
-// the old one.
-func lockScanDatabase(path string) (*os.File, error) {
-	err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(path), dbDirPerm)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("create database directory: %w", err)
-	}
-
-	lockPath := path + ".lock"
-
-	//nolint:gosec // the operator chooses the database path
-	f, err := os.OpenFile(lockPath, os.O_RDWR|os.O_CREATE, lockFilePerm)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
-	err = unix.Flock(int(f.Fd()), unix.LOCK_EX|unix.LOCK_NB)
-	if err != nil {
-		_ = f.Close()
-
-		if errors.Is(err, unix.EWOULDBLOCK) {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w (lock held on %s)",
-				errScanRunning, lockPath)
-		}
-
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("lock %s: %w", lockPath, err)
-	}
-
-	return f, nil
-}
-
 // openScanDatabase opens the database for the scan subcommand, creating
 // the file, its parent directory, and the schema as needed.
 func openScanDatabase(ctx context.Context, path string) (*sql.DB, error) {

go.mod

@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ go 1.25.7
 require (
 	github.com/schollz/progressbar/v3 v3.19.1
 	github.com/spf13/cobra v1.10.2
-	golang.org/x/sys v0.46.0
 	golang.org/x/term v0.44.0
 	modernc.org/sqlite v1.54.0
 )
@@ -20,6 +19,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/remyoudompheng/bigfft v0.0.0-20230129092748-24d4a6f8daec // indirect
 	github.com/rivo/uniseg v0.4.7 // indirect
 	github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.9 // indirect
+	golang.org/x/sys v0.46.0 // indirect
 	modernc.org/libc v1.74.1 // indirect
 	modernc.org/mathutil v1.7.1 // indirect
 	modernc.org/memory v1.11.0 // indirect

main_test.go

@@ -412,95 +412,6 @@ func TestRunReportsNeedOnlyReadAccess(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-// holdScanLock takes the lock on the database at path, as a running
-// scan does, and holds it until the test ends. It fails the test when
-// the lock is already held.
-func holdScanLock(t *testing.T, path string) {
-	t.Helper()
-
-	lock, err := lockScanDatabase(path)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("lock %s: %v", path, err)
-	}
-
-	t.Cleanup(func() { _ = lock.Close() })
-}
-
-func TestRunSecondScanFails(t *testing.T) {
-	// README §Database: while one scan holds the lock, a second scan
-	// fails at once, naming the lock file, without creating the
-	// database.
-	path := testDBPath(t)
-	t.Setenv(databaseEnv, path)
-
-	holdScanLock(t, path)
-
-	var stdout, stderr bytes.Buffer
-
-	code := run([]string{cmdScan, t.TempDir()}, &stdout, &stderr)
-	if code != exitFatal {
-		t.Errorf("run(scan) = %d, want %d", code, exitFatal)
-	}
-
-	want := "sfdupes: another scan is running (lock held on " +
-		path + ".lock)\n"
-	if got := stderr.String(); got != want {
-		t.Errorf("stderr = %q, want %q", got, want)
-	}
-
-	if got := stdout.String(); got != "" {
-		t.Errorf("stdout = %q, want nothing (data only)", got)
-	}
-
-	_, err := os.Stat(path)
-	if !errors.Is(err, fs.ErrNotExist) {
-		t.Errorf("stat %s = %v, want the database not created", path, err)
-	}
-}
-
-func TestRunScanReleasesLock(t *testing.T) {
-	// README §Database: a scan releases the lock however it ends.
-	t.Run("success", func(t *testing.T) {
-		path := testDBPath(t)
-		t.Setenv(databaseEnv, path)
-
-		scanFixture(t)
-		holdScanLock(t, path)
-	})
-
-	t.Run("fatal error", func(t *testing.T) {
-		path := brokenDatabase(t)
-		t.Setenv(databaseEnv, path)
-
-		code := run([]string{cmdScan, t.TempDir()}, io.Discard, io.Discard)
-		if code != exitFatal {
-			t.Fatalf("run(scan) = %d, want %d", code, exitFatal)
-		}
-
-		holdScanLock(t, path)
-	})
-}
-
-func TestRunReportsDuringScan(t *testing.T) {
-	// README §Database: report and trees never take the lock, so they
-	// run while a scan holds it.
-	path := testDBPath(t)
-	t.Setenv(databaseEnv, path)
-
-	scanFixture(t)
-	holdScanLock(t, path)
-
-	for _, name := range []string{cmdReport, cmdTrees} {
-		var stderr bytes.Buffer
-
-		code := run([]string{name}, io.Discard, &stderr)
-		if code != exitOK {
-			t.Errorf("run(%s) = %d, want %d; stderr: %s",
-				name, code, exitOK, stderr.String())
-		}
-	}
-}
-
 func TestRunStdoutClosedIsFatal(t *testing.T) {
 	// README §Error handling: a stdout write failure exits 1, reported
 	// in one line on stderr.

scan.go

@@ -85,13 +85,11 @@ type fileMeta struct {
 // least one other file shares are ever hashed: a size-unique file
 // cannot be a duplicate. A file of headTailMin or more gets its content
 // hash only when its size, head, and tail match another file's. Flag
-// parsing and the at-least-one-operand check are done by cobra. The
+// parsing and the at-least-one-operand check are done by cobra. Errors
-// scan holds the lock on the database for its whole run, so a second
+// are returned rather than exiting, so that the deferred close — which
-// scan fails before it walks the filesystem or opens the database.
+// takes the database out of WAL mode — always runs. Cancelling ctx
-// Errors are returned rather than exiting, so that the deferred close —
+// unwinds the worker pools and aborts the scan with the context's
-// which takes the database out of WAL mode — always runs, and the lock
+// error.
-// is released after it. Cancelling ctx unwinds the worker pools and
-// aborts the scan with the context's error.
 func runScan(ctx context.Context, roots []string, workers int,
 	oneFS bool,
 ) error {
@@ -106,13 +104,6 @@ func runScan(ctx context.Context, roots []string, workers int,
 
 	dbPath := databasePath()
 
-	lock, err := lockScanDatabase(dbPath)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	defer func() { _ = lock.Close() }()
-
 	db, err := openScanDatabase(ctx, dbPath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err