@@ -572,33 +572,36 @@
 (define *wdnum*mutex (make-mutex))
 ;; currently the primary job of the watchdog is to run the sync back to megatest.db from the db in /tmp
 ;; if we are on the homehost and we are a server (by definition we are on the homehost if we are a server)
 ;;
 (define (common:watchdog)
-  
   (thread-sleep! 0.05) ;; delay for startup
   (let ((legacy-sync (common:run-sync?))
 	(debug-mode  (debug:debug-mode 1))
 	(last-time   (current-seconds))
-        (this-wd-num     (begin (mutex-lock! *wdnum*mutex) (let ((x *wdnum*)) (set! *wdnum* (add1 *wdnum*)) (mutex-unlock! *wdnum*mutex) x)))
-        )
+        (this-wd-num     (begin (mutex-lock! *wdnum*mutex) (let ((x *wdnum*)) (set! *wdnum* (add1 *wdnum*)) (mutex-unlock! *wdnum*mutex) x))))
     (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "watchdog starting. legacy-sync is " legacy-sync" pid="(current-process-id)" this-wd-num="this-wd-num)
     (if (and legacy-sync (not *time-to-exit*))
-	(let ((dbstruct (db:setup)))
+	(let* ((dbstruct (db:setup))
+	       (mtdb     (dbr:dbstruct-mtdb dbstruct))
+	       (mtpath   (db:dbdat-get-path mtdb)))
 	  (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "Server running, periodic sync started.")
 	  (let loop ()
-            ;;(BB> "watchdog loop.  pid="(current-process-id)" this-wd-num="this-wd-num" *time-to-exit*="*time-to-exit*)
 	    ;; sync for filesystem local db writes
 	    ;;
 	    (mutex-lock! *db-multi-sync-mutex*)
 	    (let* ((need-sync        (>= *db-last-access* *db-last-sync*)) ;; no sync since last write
 		   (sync-in-progress *db-sync-in-progress*)
 		   (should-sync      (and (not *time-to-exit*)
                                           (> (- (current-seconds) *db-last-sync*) 5))) ;; sync every five seconds minimum
+		   (start-time       (current-seconds))
+		   (mt-mod-time      (file-modification-time mtpath))
+		   (recently-synced  (> (- start-time mt-mod-time) 4))
 		   (will-sync        (and (or need-sync should-sync)
-					  (not sync-in-progress)))
-		   (start-time       (current-seconds)))
+					  (not sync-in-progress)
+					  (not recently-synced))))
+	      ;; (if recently-synced (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "Skipping sync due to recently-synced flag=" recently-synced))
 	      ;; (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "need-sync: " need-sync " sync-in-progress: " sync-in-progress " should-sync: " should-sync " will-sync: " will-sync)
 	      (if will-sync (set! *db-sync-in-progress* #t))
 	      (mutex-unlock! *db-multi-sync-mutex*)
 	      (if will-sync
 		  (let ((res (common:sync-to-megatest.db dbstruct))) ;; did we sync any data? If so need to set the db touched flag to keep the server alive