diff --git a/test/unit/common/test_utils.py b/test/unit/common/test_utils.py
index cf41f057d4..06d2959d0d 100644
--- a/test/unit/common/test_utils.py
+++ b/test/unit/common/test_utils.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ from textwrap import dedent
 import threading
 import time
 import unittest
+import fcntl
 from Queue import Queue, Empty
 from getpass import getuser
 from shutil import rmtree
@@ -40,7 +41,7 @@ from tempfile import TemporaryFile, NamedTemporaryFile
 from mock import MagicMock, patch
 
 from swift.common.exceptions import (Timeout, MessageTimeout,
-                                     ConnectionTimeout)
+                                     ConnectionTimeout, LockTimeout)
 from swift.common import utils
 from swift.common.swob import Response
 
@@ -1324,6 +1325,47 @@ log_name = %(yarr)s'''
                 utils.tpool_reraise,
                 MagicMock(side_effect=BaseException('test3')))
 
+    def test_lock_file(self):
+        flags = os.O_CREAT | os.O_RDWR
+        with NamedTemporaryFile(delete=False) as nt:
+            nt.write("test string")
+            nt.flush()
+            nt.close()
+            with utils.lock_file(nt.name, unlink=False) as f:
+                self.assertEqual(f.read(), "test string")
+                # we have a lock, now let's try to get a newer one
+                fd = os.open(nt.name, flags)
+                self.assertRaises(IOError, fcntl.flock, fd,
+                                  fcntl.LOCK_EX | fcntl.LOCK_NB)
+
+            with utils.lock_file(nt.name, unlink=False, append=True) as f:
+                self.assertEqual(f.read(), "test string")
+                f.seek(0)
+                f.write("\nanother string")
+                f.flush()
+                f.seek(0)
+                self.assertEqual(f.read(), "test string\nanother string")
+
+                # we have a lock, now let's try to get a newer one
+                fd = os.open(nt.name, flags)
+                self.assertRaises(IOError, fcntl.flock, fd,
+                                  fcntl.LOCK_EX | fcntl.LOCK_NB)
+
+            with utils.lock_file(nt.name, timeout=3, unlink=False) as f:
+                try:
+                    with utils.lock_file(nt.name, timeout=1, unlink=False) as f:
+                        self.assertTrue(False, "Expected LockTimeout exception")
+                except LockTimeout:
+                    pass
+
+            with utils.lock_file(nt.name, unlink=True) as f:
+                self.assertEqual(f.read(), "test string\nanother string")
+                # we have a lock, now let's try to get a newer one
+                fd = os.open(nt.name, flags)
+                self.assertRaises(IOError, fcntl.flock, fd, fcntl.LOCK_EX | fcntl.LOCK_NB)
+
+            self.assertRaises(OSError, os.remove, nt.name)
+
 
 class TestStatsdLogging(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_get_logger_statsd_client_not_specified(self):