Editing pages

Page locking and unlocking

You will note that when you select a page for editing, you will see a message that looks like this at the bottom of the page:
Being edited by SomeUser from nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn since Thu Jan 21 11:02:14 1999
This message lets you know that you have the page locked; no one else may edit it until either If you access a page that is currently being edited by someone else, you will see a similar message across the bottom of the page.

Note that breaking someone else's lock should be done only in a circumstance when you know that the other person is not editing the page or accidentally left the page locked (e.g., by leaving the edit page without saving or breaking their own lock). Breaking a lock can lead to a race condition where something like the following happens:

  1. UserOne starts editing SamplePage, locking it.
  2. UserTwo gets impatient and breaks the lock on SamplePage and starts editing it.
  3. UserOne saves SamplePage.
  4. UserTwo saves SamplePage.
  5. UserOne looks at SamplePage and wonders where the edits went. (They're actually in the previous, archived version of the page.)
Bottom line: Don't break a lock unless you know that the locking user isn't at his/her tube, editing.

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