Understanding the Soft / Stale Locks Count

Soft / Stale Locks counts eligible web-runnable tasks whose lock timestamp is old enough to be at or beyond Joomla Scheduler’s timeout threshold.

How QCTNH classifies a stale lock

For an eligible task, a non-NULL locked timestamp at or before “now minus Scheduler timeout” is counted as soft/stale. When no active lock exists, any soft lock makes Scheduler Health Attention.

Why it is diagnostic

An old lock can result from an interrupted request, fatal error, resource timeout, or other abnormal execution. QCTNH surfaces the evidence but intentionally does not mutate Joomla’s lock field.

Next step

Find the corresponding task in Joomla, review task/extension/PHP logs, confirm no process is still legitimately running, and use supported recovery methods.

Interpret the state with precedence

For Understanding the Soft / Stale Locks Count, QCTNH’s health label is a summary, not the whole snapshot. Error conditions come from failed discovery/query operations; recent active locks produce Working; stale locks produce Attention; due eligible work produces Due when no lock state takes precedence; otherwise the result is Healthy.

Always read the individual Due Tasks, Active Locks, Soft / Stale Locks, CLI-only Tasks, and WebCron fields when diagnosing an unexpected label.

Community Discussion

Want to compare scheduler workflows, share practical tips, or discuss how you use this QCTNH feature? Visit the QC Task Nudge & Health Community. For private support, bug reports, account-specific issues, or feature requests, use the QuantaCade support system.