pumpkineer

pumpkin
backup pumpkin
patch pumpkin
pumpkineer
pumpking

   <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)