Wait for file deletion or timeout (bash)

filewait_timeout.sh

# Function
wait_file() {
  local file="$1"; shift
  local wait_seconds="${1:-10}"; shift # 10 seconds as default timeout

  until test $((wait_seconds--)) -eq 0 -o ! -f "$file" ; do sleep 1; done

  ((++wait_seconds))
}


# Example call
wait_file /tmp/program.lck 20\ || {
  echo "Lock timeout :("
  exit 1
}

If you're on Linux, just do this:

timeout 5 inotifywait -e delete_self $file