Description of problem: When starting several yum jobs in parallel, starvation can occur. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): 3.2.17-2.fc9 How reproducible: Usually. Steps to Reproduce: 1. Run a "yum" job in a shell script loop. 2. Also run a yum job by hand in a separate window. Actual results: Observe that the shell loop will nearly always hold on to the yum lock, starving the separate one. Expected results: Yum locks should be more fair, so a yum job waiting for a long time should get priority over one that is freshly started.
there's no internal communication between yum processes. They're just watching a lock file and checking back. The one that checks most recently after the last lock owner exits will get it. I'm closing this cantfix but it really should be cantfix-without-a-herculean-effort.