@@ -1238,11 +1238,24 @@
 ;;    - could be ssh to host from hosts table (update regularly with load)
 ;;    - could be netbatch
 ;;      (launch-test db (cadr status) test-conf))
 (define (launch-test test-id run-id run-info keyvals runname test-conf test-name test-path itemdat params)
   (mutex-lock! *launch-setup-mutex*) ;; setting variables and processing the testconfig is NOT thread-safe, reuse the launch-setup mutex
-  (let* ((item-path       (item-list->path itemdat))
+  (let* ((lock-key        (conc "test-" test-id))
+	 (got-lock        (let loop ((lock        (rmt:no-sync-get-lock lock-key))
+				     (expire-time (+ (current-seconds) 15))) ;; give up on getting the lock and steal it after 15 seconds
+			    (if (car lock)
+				#t
+				(if (> (current-seconds) expire-time)
+				    (begin
+				      (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "Timed out waiting for a lock to launch test " keyvals " " runname " " test-name " " test-path)
+				      (rmt:no-sync-del! lock-key) ;; destroy the lock
+				      (loop (rmt:no-sync-get-lock lock-key) expire-time)) ;; 
+				    (begin
+				      (thread-sleep! 1)
+				      (loop (rmt:no-sync-get-lock lock-key) expire-time))))))
+	 (item-path       (item-list->path itemdat))
 	 (contour         #f)) ;; NOT READY FOR THIS (args:get-arg "-contour")))
     (let loop ((delta        (- (current-seconds) *last-launch*))
 	       (launch-delay (configf:lookup-number *configdat* "setup" "launch-delay" default: 1)))
       (if (> launch-delay delta)
 	  (begin
@@ -1414,10 +1427,11 @@
 					(car fullcmd))
 				    (if useshell
 					'()
 					(cdr fullcmd)))))
         (mutex-unlock! *launch-setup-mutex*) ;; yes, really should mutex all the way to here. Need to put this entire process into a fork.
+	(rmt:no-sync-del! lock-key)         ;; release the lock for starting this test
 	(if (not launchwait) ;; give the OS a little time to allow the process to start
 	    (thread-sleep! 0.01))
 	(with-output-to-file "mt_launch.log"
 	  (lambda ()
 	    (print "LAUNCHCMD: " (string-intersperse fullcmd " "))