diff --git a/IkiWiki.pm b/IkiWiki.pm
index a0b902794..31e175d2a 100644
--- a/IkiWiki.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki.pm
@@ -668,7 +668,8 @@ sub indexlink () { #{{{
 	return "<a href=\"$config{url}\">$config{wikiname}</a>";
 } #}}}
 
-sub lockwiki () { #{{{
+sub lockwiki (;$) { #{{{
+	my $wait=@_ ? shift : 1;
 	# Take an exclusive lock on the wiki to prevent multiple concurrent
 	# run issues. The lock will be dropped on program exit.
 	if (! -d $config{wikistatedir}) {
@@ -677,15 +678,22 @@ sub lockwiki () { #{{{
 	open(WIKILOCK, ">$config{wikistatedir}/lockfile") ||
 		error ("cannot write to $config{wikistatedir}/lockfile: $!");
 	if (! flock(WIKILOCK, 2 | 4)) { # LOCK_EX | LOCK_NB
-		debug("wiki seems to be locked, waiting for lock");
-		my $wait=600; # arbitrary, but don't hang forever to 
-		              # prevent process pileup
-		for (1..$wait) {
-			return if flock(WIKILOCK, 2 | 4);
-			sleep 1;
+		if ($wait) {
+			debug("wiki seems to be locked, waiting for lock");
+			my $wait=600; # arbitrary, but don't hang forever to 
+			              # prevent process pileup
+			for (1..$wait) {
+				return if flock(WIKILOCK, 2 | 4);
+				sleep 1;
+			}
+			error("wiki is locked; waited $wait seconds without lock being freed (possible stuck process or stale lock?)");
+		}
+		else {
+			debug("wiki is locked");
+			return 0;
 		}
-		error("wiki is locked; waited $wait seconds without lock being freed (possible stuck process or stale lock?)");
 	}
+	return 1;
 } #}}}
 
 sub unlockwiki () { #{{{
diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm
index 78f8b409c..082290114 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm
@@ -31,22 +31,26 @@ sub getopt () { #{{{
 } #}}}
 
 sub checkconfig () { #{{{
-	my $nolock=($config{post_commit} && ! IkiWiki::commit_hook_enabled());
-	IkiWiki::lockwiki() unless $nolock;
-	loadstate();
-	if ($config{aggregate} && ! $nolock) {
+	if ($config{aggregate} && ! ($config{post_commit} && 
+	                             IkiWiki::commit_hook_enabled())) {
+		# don't wait for the lock
+		IkiWiki::lockwiki(0) || exit 1;
+	
+		loadstate();
 		IkiWiki::loadindex();
 		aggregate();
 		expire();
 		savestate();
+
+		IkiWiki::unlockwiki();
 	}
-	IkiWiki::unlockwiki() unless $nolock;
 } #}}}
 
 sub filter (@) { #{{{
 	my %params=@_;
 	my $page=$params{page};
 
+	loadstate(); # if not already loaded
 	# Mark all feeds originating on this page as removable;
 	# preprocess will unmark those that still exist.
 	remove_feeds($page);
@@ -117,7 +121,9 @@ sub delete (@) { #{{{
 	}
 } #}}}
 
+my $state_loaded=0;
 sub loadstate () { #{{{
+	return if $state_loaded;
 	if (-e "$config{wikistatedir}/aggregate") {
 		open (IN, "$config{wikistatedir}/aggregate" ||
 			die "$config{wikistatedir}/aggregate: $!");
@@ -148,6 +154,8 @@ sub loadstate () { #{{{
 		}
 
 		close IN;
+		
+		$state_loaded=1;
 	}
 } #}}}
 
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 10f5ef33f..87cf87087 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+ikiwiki (2.2) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
+
+  * Change the aggregate plugin's locking strategy. Now it defers loading state
+    until the wiki is building and already locked, unless it's aggregating.
+    When aggregating, it does not wait for the lock if it cannot get it, and
+    instead exits, to prevent aggregating processes from piling up.
+
+ -- Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>  Sun, 20 May 2007 22:23:09 -0400
+
 ikiwiki (2.1) unstable; urgency=low
 
   [ Joey Hess ]
diff --git a/po/ikiwiki.pot b/po/ikiwiki.pot
index d1431a910..d23c9d0bd 100644
--- a/po/ikiwiki.pot
+++ b/po/ikiwiki.pot
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ msgid ""
 msgstr ""
 "Project-Id-Version: PACKAGE VERSION\n"
 "Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: \n"
-"POT-Creation-Date: 2007-05-19 19:33-0400\n"
+"POT-Creation-Date: 2007-05-20 22:48-0400\n"
 "PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n"
 "Last-Translator: FULL NAME <EMAIL@ADDRESS>\n"
 "Language-Team: LANGUAGE <LL@li.org>\n"
@@ -67,62 +67,62 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "login failed, perhaps you need to turn on cookies?"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:62
+#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:66
 #, perl-format
 msgid "missing %s parameter"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:90
+#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:94
 msgid "new feed"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:104
+#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:108
 msgid "posts"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:106
+#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:110
 msgid "new"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:212
+#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:220
 #, perl-format
 msgid "expiring %s (%s days old)"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:219
+#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:227
 #, perl-format
 msgid "expiring %s"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:242
+#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:250
 #, perl-format
 msgid "processed ok at %s"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:247
+#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:255
 #, perl-format
 msgid "checking feed %s ..."
 msgstr ""
 
-#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:252
+#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:260
 #, perl-format
 msgid "could not find feed at %s"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:267
+#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:275
 msgid "feed not found"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:278
+#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:286
 #, perl-format
 msgid "(invalid UTF-8 stripped from feed)"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:283
+#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:291
 msgid "feed crashed XML::Feed!"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:356
+#: ../IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm:364
 #, perl-format
 msgid "creating new page %s"
 msgstr ""