pumpkin

jargon A humourous term for the token - the object

(notional or real) that gives its possessor (the "pumpking" or

the "pumpkineer") exclusive access to something, e.g. applying

patches to a master copy of source (for which the pumpkin

is called a "patch pumpkin").

Chip Salzenberg [email protected] wrote:

David Croy once told me once that at a previous job, there was

one tape drive and multiple systems that used it for backups.

But instead of some high-tech exclusion software, they used a

low-tech method to prevent multiple simultaneous backups: a

stuffed pumpkin. No one was allowed to make backups unless

they had the "backup pumpkin".

(1999-02-23)