diff --git a/lib/spack/llnl/util/lock.py b/lib/spack/llnl/util/lock.py
index 3cd02befe535d5fa98475c1f3ce7cab99c56d18f..6e49bf74e6c53d36a88e5b44dd255521c063d775 100644
--- a/lib/spack/llnl/util/lock.py
+++ b/lib/spack/llnl/util/lock.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ##############################################################################
-# Copyright (c) 2013, Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.
+# Copyright (c) 2013-2015, Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.
 # Produced at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
 #
 # This file is part of Spack.
@@ -22,134 +22,135 @@
 # along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
 # Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
 ##############################################################################
-"""Lock implementation for shared filesystems."""
 import os
 import fcntl
 import errno
 import time
 import socket
 
-# Default timeout for locks.
-DEFAULT_TIMEOUT = 60
+# Default timeout in seconds, after which locks will raise exceptions.
+_default_timeout = 60
 
-class _ReadLockContext(object):
-    """Context manager that takes and releases a read lock.
+# Sleep time per iteration in spin loop (in seconds)
+_sleep_time = 1e-5
 
-    Arguments are lock and timeout (default 5 minutes)
-    """
-    def __init__(self, lock, timeout=DEFAULT_TIMEOUT):
-        self._lock = lock
-        self._timeout = timeout
 
-    def __enter__(self):
-        self._lock.acquire_read(self._timeout)
+class Lock(object):
+    def __init__(self,file_path):
+        self._file_path = file_path
+        self._fd = None
+        self._reads = 0
+        self._writes = 0
 
-    def __exit__(self,type,value,traceback):
-        self._lock.release_read()
 
+    def _lock(self, op, timeout):
+        """This takes a lock using POSIX locks (``fnctl.lockf``).
 
-class _WriteLockContext(object):
-    """Context manager that takes and releases a write lock.
+        The lock is implemented as a spin lock using a nonblocking
+        call to lockf().
 
-    Arguments are lock and timeout (default 5 minutes)
-    """
-    def __init__(self, lock, timeout=DEFAULT_TIMEOUT):
-        self._lock = lock
-        self._timeout = timeout
+        On acquiring an exclusive lock, the lock writes this process's
+        pid and host to the lock file, in case the holding process
+        needs to be killed later.
 
-    def __enter__(self):
-        self._lock.acquire_write(self._timeout)
+        If the lock times out, it raises a ``LockError``.
+        """
+        start_time = time.time()
+        while (time.time() - start_time) < timeout:
+            try:
+                if self._fd is None:
+                    self._fd = os.open(self._file_path, os.O_RDWR)
 
-    def __exit__(self,type,value,traceback):
-        self._lock.release_write()
+                fcntl.lockf(self._fd, op | fcntl.LOCK_NB)
+                if op == fcntl.LOCK_EX:
+                    os.write(self._fd, "pid=%s,host=%s" % (os.getpid(), socket.getfqdn()))
+                return
+
+            except IOError as error:
+                if error.errno == errno.EAGAIN or error.errno == errno.EACCES:
+                    pass
+                else:
+                    raise
+            time.sleep(_sleep_time)
 
+        raise LockError("Timed out waiting for lock.")
 
-class Lock(object):
-    """Distributed file-based lock using ``flock``."""
 
-    def __init__(self, file_path):
-        self._file_path = file_path
-        self._fd = os.open(file_path,os.O_RDWR)
-        self._reads = 0
-        self._writes = 0
+    def _unlock(self):
+        """Releases a lock using POSIX locks (``fcntl.lockf``)
 
+        Releases the lock regardless of mode. Note that read locks may
+        be masquerading as write locks, but this removes either.
 
-    def write_lock(self, timeout=DEFAULT_TIMEOUT):
-        """Convenience method that returns a write lock context."""
-        return _WriteLockContext(self, timeout)
+        """
+        fcntl.lockf(self._fd,fcntl.LOCK_UN)
+        os.close(self._fd)
+        self._fd = None
 
 
-    def read_lock(self, timeout=DEFAULT_TIMEOUT):
-        """Convenience method that returns a read lock context."""
-        return _ReadLockContext(self, timeout)
+    def acquire_read(self, timeout=_default_timeout):
+        """Acquires a recursive, shared lock for reading.
 
+        Read and write locks can be acquired and released in arbitrary
+        order, but the POSIX lock is held until all local read and
+        write locks are released.
 
-    def acquire_read(self, timeout):
-        """
-        Implements recursive lock. If held in both read and write mode,
-        the write lock will be maintained until all locks are released
         """
         if self._reads == 0 and self._writes == 0:
             self._lock(fcntl.LOCK_SH, timeout)
         self._reads += 1
 
 
-    def acquire_write(self, timeout):
-        """
-        Implements recursive lock
+    def acquire_write(self, timeout=_default_timeout):
+        """Acquires a recursive, exclusive lock for writing.
+
+        Read and write locks can be acquired and released in arbitrary
+        order, but the POSIX lock is held until all local read and
+        write locks are released.
         """
         if self._writes == 0:
             self._lock(fcntl.LOCK_EX, timeout)
         self._writes += 1
 
 
-    def _lock(self, op, timeout):
-        """
-        The timeout is implemented using nonblocking flock()
-        to avoid using signals for timing
-        Write locks store pid and host information to the lock file
-        Read locks do not store data
-        """
-        total_time = 0
-        while total_time < timeout:
-            try:
-                fcntl.flock(self._fd, op | fcntl.LOCK_NB)
-                if op == fcntl.LOCK_EX:
-                    with open(self._file_path, 'w') as f:
-                        f.write("pid = " + str(os.getpid()) + ", host = " + socket.getfqdn())
-                return
-            except IOError as error:
-                if error.errno == errno.EAGAIN or error.errno == EACCES:
-                    pass
-                else:
-                    raise
-            time.sleep(0.1)
-            total_time += 0.1
+    def release_read(self):
+        """Releases a read lock.
 
+        Returns True if the last recursive lock was released, False if
+        there are still outstanding locks.
+
+        Does limited correctness checking: if a read lock is released
+        when none are held, this will raise an assertion error.
 
-    def release_read(self):
-        """
-        Assert there is a lock of the right type to release, recursive lock
         """
         assert self._reads > 0
-        if self._reads == 1 and self._writes == 0:
-            self._unlock()
+
         self._reads -= 1
+        if self._reads == 0 and self._writes == 0:
+            self._unlock()
+            return True
+        return False
 
 
     def release_write(self):
-        """
-        Assert there is a lock of the right type to release, recursive lock
+        """Releases a write lock.
+
+        Returns True if the last recursive lock was released, False if
+        there are still outstanding locks.
+
+        Does limited correctness checking: if a read lock is released
+        when none are held, this will raise an assertion error.
+
         """
         assert self._writes > 0
-        if self._writes == 1 and self._reads == 0:
-            self._unlock()
+
         self._writes -= 1
+        if self._writes == 0 and self._reads == 0:
+            self._unlock()
+            return True
+        return False
 
 
-    def _unlock(self):
-        """
-        Releases the lock regardless of mode. Note that read locks may be
-        masquerading as write locks at times, but this removes either.
-        """
-        fcntl.flock(self._fd, fcntl.LOCK_UN)
+class LockError(Exception):
+    """Raised when an attempt to acquire a lock times out."""
+    pass
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/__init__.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/__init__.py
index c3b39b76f8a9441acd572351602141fbb012c74c..84419781e2ffcf182c816c64d175c2d146d89b3f 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/__init__.py
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@
               'optional_deps',
               'make_executable',
               'configure_guess',
+              'lock',
               'database']
 
 
@@ -77,7 +78,7 @@ def run(names, verbose=False):
             if test not in test_names:
                 tty.error("%s is not a valid spack test name." % test,
                           "Valid names are:")
-                colify(test_names, indent=4)
+                colify(sorted(test_names), indent=4)
                 sys.exit(1)
 
     runner = unittest.TextTestRunner(verbosity=verbosity)
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/lock.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/lock.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..2e7440bbbc393fa92e95d3216a188c1ecf7bf96a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/lock.py
@@ -0,0 +1,264 @@
+##############################################################################
+# Copyright (c) 2013-2015, Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.
+# Produced at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
+#
+# This file is part of Spack.
+# Written by Todd Gamblin, tgamblin@llnl.gov, All rights reserved.
+# LLNL-CODE-647188
+#
+# For details, see https://scalability-llnl.github.io/spack
+# Please also see the LICENSE file for our notice and the LGPL.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License (as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation) version 2.1 dated February 1999.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the IMPLIED WARRANTY OF
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the terms and
+# conditions of the GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
+# Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
+##############################################################################
+"""
+These tests ensure that our lock works correctly.
+"""
+import unittest
+import os
+import tempfile
+import shutil
+from multiprocessing import Process
+
+from llnl.util.lock import *
+from llnl.util.filesystem import join_path, touch
+
+from spack.util.multiproc import Barrier
+
+# This is the longest a failed test will take, as the barriers will
+# time out and raise an exception.
+barrier_timeout = 5
+
+
+def order_processes(*functions):
+    """Order some processes using simple barrier synchronization."""
+    b = Barrier(len(functions), timeout=barrier_timeout)
+    procs = [Process(target=f, args=(b,)) for f in functions]
+    for p in procs: p.start()
+    for p in procs: p.join()
+
+
+class LockTest(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.tempdir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+        self.lock_path = join_path(self.tempdir, 'lockfile')
+        touch(self.lock_path)
+
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+         shutil.rmtree(self.tempdir, ignore_errors=True)
+
+
+    #
+    # Process snippets below can be composed into tests.
+    #
+    def acquire_write(self, barrier):
+        lock = Lock(self.lock_path)
+        lock.acquire_write()  # grab exclusive lock
+        barrier.wait()
+        barrier.wait() # hold the lock until exception raises in other procs.
+
+    def acquire_read(self, barrier):
+        lock = Lock(self.lock_path)
+        lock.acquire_read()  # grab shared lock
+        barrier.wait()
+        barrier.wait() # hold the lock until exception raises in other procs.
+
+    def timeout_write(self, barrier):
+        lock = Lock(self.lock_path)
+        barrier.wait() # wait for lock acquire in first process
+        self.assertRaises(LockError, lock.acquire_write, 0.1)
+        barrier.wait()
+
+    def timeout_read(self, barrier):
+        lock = Lock(self.lock_path)
+        barrier.wait() # wait for lock acquire in first process
+        self.assertRaises(LockError, lock.acquire_read, 0.1)
+        barrier.wait()
+
+
+    #
+    # Test that exclusive locks on other processes time out when an
+    # exclusive lock is held.
+    #
+    def test_write_lock_timeout_on_write(self):
+        order_processes(self.acquire_write, self.timeout_write)
+
+    def test_write_lock_timeout_on_write_2(self):
+        order_processes(self.acquire_write, self.timeout_write, self.timeout_write)
+
+    def test_write_lock_timeout_on_write_3(self):
+        order_processes(self.acquire_write, self.timeout_write, self.timeout_write, self.timeout_write)
+
+
+    #
+    # Test that shared locks on other processes time out when an
+    # exclusive lock is held.
+    #
+    def test_read_lock_timeout_on_write(self):
+        order_processes(self.acquire_write, self.timeout_read)
+
+    def test_read_lock_timeout_on_write_2(self):
+        order_processes(self.acquire_write, self.timeout_read, self.timeout_read)
+
+    def test_read_lock_timeout_on_write_3(self):
+        order_processes(self.acquire_write, self.timeout_read, self.timeout_read, self.timeout_read)
+
+
+    #
+    # Test that exclusive locks time out when shared locks are held.
+    #
+    def test_write_lock_timeout_on_read(self):
+        order_processes(self.acquire_read, self.timeout_write)
+
+    def test_write_lock_timeout_on_read_2(self):
+        order_processes(self.acquire_read, self.timeout_write, self.timeout_write)
+
+    def test_write_lock_timeout_on_read_3(self):
+        order_processes(self.acquire_read, self.timeout_write, self.timeout_write, self.timeout_write)
+
+
+    #
+    # Test that exclusive locks time while lots of shared locks are held.
+    #
+    def test_write_lock_timeout_with_multiple_readers_2_1(self):
+        order_processes(self.acquire_read, self.acquire_read, self.timeout_write)
+
+    def test_write_lock_timeout_with_multiple_readers_2_2(self):
+        order_processes(self.acquire_read, self.acquire_read, self.timeout_write, self.timeout_write)
+
+    def test_write_lock_timeout_with_multiple_readers_3_1(self):
+        order_processes(self.acquire_read, self.acquire_read, self.acquire_read, self.timeout_write)
+
+    def test_write_lock_timeout_with_multiple_readers_3_2(self):
+        order_processes(self.acquire_read, self.acquire_read, self.acquire_read, self.timeout_write, self.timeout_write)
+
+
+    #
+    # Longer test case that ensures locks are reusable. Ordering is
+    # enforced by barriers throughout -- steps are shown with numbers.
+    #
+    def test_complex_acquire_and_release_chain(self):
+        def p1(barrier):
+            lock = Lock(self.lock_path)
+
+            lock.acquire_write()
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 1
+            # others test timeout
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 2
+            lock.release_write()   # release and others acquire read
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 3
+            self.assertRaises(LockError, lock.acquire_write, 0.1)
+            lock.acquire_read()
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 4
+            lock.release_read()
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 5
+
+            # p2 upgrades read to write
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 6
+            self.assertRaises(LockError, lock.acquire_write, 0.1)
+            self.assertRaises(LockError, lock.acquire_read, 0.1)
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 7
+            # p2 releases write and read
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 8
+
+            # p3 acquires read
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 9
+            # p3 upgrades read to write
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 10
+            self.assertRaises(LockError, lock.acquire_write, 0.1)
+            self.assertRaises(LockError, lock.acquire_read, 0.1)
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 11
+            # p3 releases locks
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 12
+            lock.acquire_read()
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 13
+            lock.release_read()
+
+
+        def p2(barrier):
+            lock = Lock(self.lock_path)
+
+            # p1 acquires write
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 1
+            self.assertRaises(LockError, lock.acquire_write, 0.1)
+            self.assertRaises(LockError, lock.acquire_read, 0.1)
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 2
+            lock.acquire_read()
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 3
+            # p1 tests shared read
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 4
+            # others release reads
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 5
+
+            lock.acquire_write() # upgrade read to write
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 6
+            # others test timeout
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 7
+            lock.release_write()  # release read AND write (need both)
+            lock.release_read()
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 8
+
+            # p3 acquires read
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 9
+            # p3 upgrades read to write
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 10
+            self.assertRaises(LockError, lock.acquire_write, 0.1)
+            self.assertRaises(LockError, lock.acquire_read, 0.1)
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 11
+            # p3 releases locks
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 12
+            lock.acquire_read()
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 13
+            lock.release_read()
+
+
+        def p3(barrier):
+            lock = Lock(self.lock_path)
+
+            # p1 acquires write
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 1
+            self.assertRaises(LockError, lock.acquire_write, 0.1)
+            self.assertRaises(LockError, lock.acquire_read, 0.1)
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 2
+            lock.acquire_read()
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 3
+            # p1 tests shared read
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 4
+            lock.release_read()
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 5
+
+            # p2 upgrades read to write
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 6
+            self.assertRaises(LockError, lock.acquire_write, 0.1)
+            self.assertRaises(LockError, lock.acquire_read, 0.1)
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 7
+            # p2 releases write & read
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 8
+
+            lock.acquire_read()
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 9
+            lock.acquire_write()
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 10
+            # others test timeout
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 11
+            lock.release_read()   # release read AND write in opposite
+            lock.release_write()  # order from before on p2
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 12
+            lock.acquire_read()
+            barrier.wait() # ---------------------------------------- 13
+            lock.release_read()
+
+        order_processes(p1, p2, p3)