Index: /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140610/Ohana/src/relastro/src/load_catalogs.c
===================================================================
--- /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140610/Ohana/src/relastro/src/load_catalogs.c	(revision 36996)
+++ /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140610/Ohana/src/relastro/src/load_catalogs.c	(revision 36997)
@@ -102,4 +102,10 @@
   }
 
+  // if we are running with parallel_images but not a parallel database, we need to
+  // release the lock so the next image host can proceed
+  if (!hostID && syncfile) {
+    update_sync_file (syncfile, 1);
+  }
+
   // only return the populated catalogs
   REALLOCATE (catalog, Catalog, Ncat);
@@ -215,5 +221,9 @@
   }
 
-  // update syncfile here (save lots of I/O time)
+  // update syncfile here (save lots of I/O time):
+
+  // at this point, the remote relastro_client jobs are done loading their data.  in a
+  // parallel_images mode, the next image host can be launched while this image host now
+  // reads that
 
   // NOTE: if I let all hosts load blindly, I saturate the data clients with too many