@@ -36,10 +36,11 @@
                                 state TEXT DEFAULT 'new',
                                 target TEXT DEFAULT '',
                                 name TEXT DEFAULT '',
                                 test TEXT DEFAULT '',
                                 item TEXT DEFAULT '',
+                                keylock TEXT,
                                 creation_time TIMESTAMP,
                                 execution_time TIMESTAMP);")
 	  (sqlite3:execute tdb "CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS monitors (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
                                 pid INTEGER,
                                 start_time TIMESTAMP,
@@ -113,32 +114,34 @@
     (tasks:add tdb action owner target runname testpatts itempatts)))
 
 ;; return one task from those who are 'new' OR 'waiting' AND more than 10sec old
 ;;
 (define (tasks:snag-a-task tdb)
-  (let ((res #f))
-    (with-transaction 
-     tdb
-     (lambda ()
-       ;; execution time is updated with every snag, wait 10 secs before doing anything with the queue
-       (sqlite3:for-each-row
-	(lambda (id . rem)
-	  (set! res (apply vector id rem)))
-	tdb
-	"SELECT id,action,owner,state,target,name,test,item,creation_time,execution_time
-           FROM tasks_queue
-             WHERE 
-                state='new' OR
-                (state='waiting' AND (strftime('%s','now')-execution_time) > 10) OR
-                state='reset'
-             ORDER BY execution_time ASC LIMIT 1;")
-       (if res ;; yep, have work to be done
-	   (begin
-	     (sqlite3:execute tdb "UPDATE tasks_queue SET state='inprogress',execution_time=strftime('%s','now') WHERE id=?;"
-			      (tasks:task-get-id res))
-	     res)
-	   #f)))))
+  (let ((res    #f)
+	(keytxt (conc (current-process-id) "-" (get-host-name) "-" (car (user-information (current-user-id))))))
+
+    ;; first randomly set a new to pid-hostname-hostname
+    (sqlite3:execute
+     tdb 
+     "UPDATE tasks_queue SET keylock=? WHERE id IN
+        (SELECT id FROM tasks_queue 
+           WHERE state='new' OR 
+                 (state='waiting' AND (strftime('%s','now')-execution_time) > 10) OR
+                 state='reset'
+           ORDER BY RANDOM() LIMIT 1);" keytxt)
+
+    (sqlite3:for-each-row
+     (lambda (id . rem)
+       (set! res (apply vector id rem)))
+     tdb
+     "SELECT id,action,owner,state,target,name,test,item,creation_time,execution_time FROM tasks_queue WHERE keylock=? ORDER BY execution_time ASC LIMIT 1;" keytxt)
+    (if res ;; yep, have work to be done
+	(begin
+	  (sqlite3:execute tdb "UPDATE tasks_queue SET state='inprogress',execution_time=strftime('%s','now') WHERE id=?;"
+			   (tasks:task-get-id res))
+	  res)
+	#f)))
 
 (define (tasks:reset-stuck-tasks tdb)
   (let ((res '()))
     (sqlite3:for-each-row
      (lambda (id delta)
@@ -163,10 +166,14 @@
                ;;   state IN " statesstr " AND 
 	       ;;   action IN " actionsstr 
 	   " ORDER BY creation_time DESC;"))
     res))
 
+;; remove tasks given by a string of numbers comma separated
+(define (tasks:remove-queue-entries tdb task-ids)
+  (sqlite3:execute tdb (conc "DELETE FROM tasks_queue WHERE id IN (" task-ids ");")))
+
 ;; 
 (define (tasks:start-monitor db tdb)
   (if (> (tasks:get-num-alive-monitors tdb) 2) ;; have two running, no need for more
       (debug:print 1 "INFO: Not starting monitor, already have more than two running")
       (let* ((megatestdb     (conc *toppath* "/megatest.db"))