Cross Platform Example of Single Instance Checking in Python

SingleInstanceChecker.py

import time, sys, os

class SingleInstanceChecker:
    def __init__(self, id):
        if isWin():
            ensure_win32api()
            self.mutexname = id
            self.lock = win32event.CreateMutex(None, False, self.mutexname)
            self.running = (win32api.GetLastError() == winerror.ERROR_ALREADY_EXISTS)

        else:
            ensure_fcntl()
            self.lock = open(f"/tmp/isnstance_{id}.lock", 'wb')
            try:
                fcntl.lockf(self.lock, fcntl.LOCK_EX | fcntl.LOCK_NB)
                self.running = False
            except IOError:
                self.running = True


    def already_running(self):
        return self.running
        
    def __del__(self):
        if self.lock:
            try:
                if isWin():
                    win32api.CloseHandle(self.lock)
                else:
                    os.close(self.lock)
            except Exception as ex:
                pass

# ---------------------------------------
# Utility Functions
# Dynamically load win32api on demand
# Install with: pip install pywin32
win32api=winerror=win32event=None
def ensure_win32api():
    global win32api,winerror,win32event
    if win32api is None:
        import win32api
        import winerror
        import win32event


# Dynamically load fcntl on demand
# Install with: pip install fcntl
fcntl=None
def ensure_fcntl():
    global fcntl
    if fcntl is None:
        import fcntl


def isWin():
    return (os.name == 'nt')
# ---------------------------------------


def main(argv):
    _timeout = 10
    print("main() called. sleeping for %s seconds" % _timeout)
    time.sleep(_timeout)
    print("DONE")


if __name__ == '__main__':
    SCR_NAME = "my_script"
    sic = SingleInstanceChecker(SCR_NAME)
    if sic.already_running():
        print("An instance of {} is already running.".format(SCR_NAME))
        sys.exit(1)
    else:
        main(sys.argv[1:])

Great job @JavaScriptDude !