Device allocation under 4.2

[Brian Atkins]

Has anyone any info on device allocation under 4.2?  

I am working on a program to allocate a tape drive so a person can
walk down the hall to mount his/her tape without anyone else
grabbing the device, or can get back to his/her terminal before
someone wipes out his/her tape.

Of course, I could produce a lock file, tinker with permissions, etc,
but I am hoping for something more clever/less big hammerish.

Also, allocation must be able to be done over an INET, which I can't see
as much of an additional complication.

Net or mail, it's all the same to me, though I will post mail responses
to the net if requested to do so.

"If you can't finesse your code, what can you finesse?"
Brian Atkins   ...{hao, allegra, ucbvax, amd}!nbires!atkins