my $db = tie %HoA, 'DB_File', $path, O_RDWR | O_CREAT, 0666, $DB_HASH
       or die "[Error processing $path ] $!";

   my $fd = $db->fd;
   open DBM, "+<&=$fd" or die "Could not dup DBM for lock: $!";

# now try to lock it
   my $success;
   my $tries = 0;
   while ($tries++ < 10) {
        last if $success = flock (DBM, LOCK_EX|LOCK_NB);
        print p("Waiting for $lock_type lock on AddressBook file...");
        sleep(1);               # wait a second
        }

   undef $db;