-.TH MH-SEQUENCE %manext5% "%nmhdate%" MH.6.8 [%nmhversion%]
+.TH MH-SEQUENCE %manext5% "January 9, 2001" "%nmhversion%"
.\"
.\" %nmhwarning%
.\"
displays a message, that message will be removed from
any sequences named by the \*(lqUnseen\-Sequence\*(rq entry in the
profile.
+.SS Sequence File Locking
+The \*(lqdatalocking\*(rq profile entry controls the type of locking used
+when reading and writing sequence files. The locking mechanisms supported
+are detailed in
+.IR mh\-profile (5).
+This protects sequence file integrity when multiple
+.B nmh
+commands are run simultaneously.
+.B Nmh
+commands that modify the sequence file use transactional locks; the lock
+is held from the time the sequence file is read until it it written out.
+This ensures that modifications to the sequence file will not be lost
+if multiple commands are run simultaneously. Long\-running
+.B nmh
+commands, such as
+.B inc
+and
+.BR pick ,
+will release the sequence lock during the bulk of their runtime and reread
+the sequence file after their processing is complete to reduce lock
+contention time.
+.PP
+.B Note:
+Currently transactional locks are
+.B only
+supported for public sequences; private sequences will not get corrupted, but
+the possibility exists that two
+.B nmh
+commands run simultaneously that add messages to a private sequence could result in
+one command's messages not appearing on the requested sequence.
.SH FILES
.fc ^ ~
.nf
^Unseen\-Sequence:~^Those messages not yet seen by the user
.fi
.SH "SEE ALSO"
-flist(1), mark(1), pick(1), mh-profile(5)
+.IR flist (1),
+.IR mark (1),
+.IR pick (1),
+.IR mh-profile (5)
.SH DEFAULTS
None