diff --git a/client/asink.go b/client/asink.go
index b01b191..fae7dd3 100644
--- a/client/asink.go
+++ b/client/asink.go
@@ -80,6 +80,9 @@ func main() {
 		panic(err)
 	}
 
+	//spawn goroutine to handle locking file paths
+	go PathLocker(globals.db)
+
 	//spawn goroutines to handle local events
 	localFileUpdates := make(chan *asink.Event)
 	go StartWatching(globals.syncDir, localFileUpdates)
@@ -96,14 +99,15 @@ func main() {
 }
 
 func ProcessLocalEvent(globals AsinkGlobals, event *asink.Event) {
-	//add to database
-	err := globals.db.DatabaseAddEvent(event)
-	if err != nil {
-		panic(err)
+	latestLocal := LockPath(event.Path, true)
+	defer UnlockPath(event)
+	if latestLocal != nil {
+		event.Predecessor = latestLocal.Hash
 	}
 
 	if event.IsUpdate() {
 		//copy to tmp
+		//TODO upload in chunks and check modification times to make sure it hasn't been changed instead of copying the whole thing off
 		tmpfilename, err := util.CopyToTmp(event.Path, globals.tmpDir)
 		if err != nil {
 			panic(err)
@@ -129,44 +133,41 @@ func ProcessLocalEvent(globals AsinkGlobals, event *asink.Event) {
 		}
 		event.Status |= asink.CACHED
 
-		//update database
-		err = globals.db.DatabaseUpdateEvent(event)
-		if err != nil {
-			panic(err)
-		}
-
 		//upload file to remote storage
 		err = globals.storage.Put(event.Path, event.Hash)
 		if err != nil {
 			panic(err)
 		}
 		event.Status |= asink.UPLOADED
-
-		//update database again
-		err = globals.db.DatabaseUpdateEvent(event)
-		if err != nil {
-			panic(err)
-		}
-
 	}
 
 	//finally, send it off to the server
-	err = SendEvent(globals, event)
+	err := SendEvent(globals, event)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(err) //TODO handle sensibly
 	}
 
 	event.Status |= asink.ON_SERVER
-	err = globals.db.DatabaseUpdateEvent(event)
-	if err != nil {
-		panic(err) //TODO probably, definitely, none of these should panic
-	}
 }
 
 func ProcessRemoteEvent(globals AsinkGlobals, event *asink.Event) {
-	//TODO check to see if event originated locally. If it did, stop processing it.
+	latestLocal := LockPath(event.Path, true)
+	defer UnlockPath(event)
+	//if we already have this event, or if it is older than our most recent event, bail out
+	if latestLocal != nil {
+		if event.Timestamp < latestLocal.Timestamp || event.IsSameEvent(latestLocal) {
+			UnlockPath(event)
+			return
+		}
+
+		if latestLocal.Hash != event.Predecessor && latestLocal.Hash != event.Hash {
+			panic("conflict")
+			//TODO handle conflict
+		}
+	}
+
 	//Download event
-	if event.IsUpdate() {
+	if event.IsUpdate() && (latestLocal == nil || event.Hash != latestLocal.Hash) {
 		outfile, err := ioutil.TempFile(globals.tmpDir, "asink")
 		if err != nil {
 			panic(err) //TODO handle sensibly
@@ -191,7 +192,6 @@ func ProcessRemoteEvent(globals AsinkGlobals, event *asink.Event) {
 
 	fmt.Println(event)
 	//TODO make sure file being overwritten is either unchanged or already copied off and hashed
-	//TODO add event to the local database, and populate the local directory
 }
 
 func ProcessRemoteEvents(globals AsinkGlobals, eventChan chan *asink.Event) {
diff --git a/client/database.go b/client/database.go
index 960b74e..c48097c 100644
--- a/client/database.go
+++ b/client/database.go
@@ -141,3 +141,24 @@ func (adb *AsinkDB) DatabaseLatestEventForPath(path string) (event *asink.Event,
 		return event, nil
 	}
 }
+
+//returns nil if no such event exists
+func (adb *AsinkDB) DatabaseLatestRemoteEvent() (event *asink.Event, err error) {
+	adb.lock.Lock()
+	//make sure the database gets unlocked
+	defer adb.lock.Unlock()
+
+	row := adb.db.QueryRow("SELECT id, localid, type, status, path, hash, predecessor, timestamp, permissions FROM events WHERE id > 0 ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT 1;")
+
+	event = new(asink.Event)
+	err = row.Scan(&event.Id, &event.LocalId, &event.Type, &event.Status, &event.Path, &event.Hash, &event.Predecessor, &event.Timestamp, &event.Permissions)
+
+	switch {
+	case err == sql.ErrNoRows:
+		return nil, nil
+	case err != nil:
+		return nil, err
+	default:
+		return event, nil
+	}
+}
diff --git a/client/path_map.go b/client/path_map.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..416b618
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/path_map.go
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"asink"
+)
+
+type pathMapRequest struct {
+	path         string
+	local        bool /*is this event local (true) or remote(false)?*/
+	responseChan chan *asink.Event
+}
+
+type pathMapValue struct {
+	latestEvent   *asink.Event
+	locked        bool
+	localWaiters  []chan *asink.Event
+	remoteWaiters []chan *asink.Event
+}
+
+var pathLockerChan = make(chan *pathMapRequest)
+var pathUnlockerChan = make(chan *asink.Event)
+
+func PathLocker(db *AsinkDB) {
+	var event *asink.Event
+	var request *pathMapRequest
+	var v *pathMapValue
+	var ok bool
+	var c chan *asink.Event
+	m := make(map[string]*pathMapValue)
+
+	for {
+		select {
+		case event = <-pathUnlockerChan:
+			if v, ok = m[event.Path]; ok != false {
+				if v.latestEvent == nil || !v.latestEvent.IsSameEvent(event) {
+					err := db.DatabaseAddEvent(event)
+					if err != nil {
+						panic(err)
+					}
+					//TODO batch database writes instead of doing one at a time
+				}
+				v.latestEvent = event
+				if len(v.localWaiters) > 0 {
+					c = v.localWaiters[0]
+					v.localWaiters = v.localWaiters[1:]
+					c <- event
+				} else if len(v.remoteWaiters) > 0 {
+					c = v.remoteWaiters[0]
+					v.remoteWaiters = v.remoteWaiters[1:]
+					c <- event
+				} else {
+					v.locked = false
+				}
+			}
+		case request = <-pathLockerChan:
+			v, ok = m[request.path]
+			//allocate pathMapValue object if it doesn't exist
+			if !ok {
+				v = new(pathMapValue)
+				m[request.path] = v
+			}
+			if v.locked {
+				if request.local {
+					v.localWaiters = append(v.localWaiters, request.responseChan)
+				} else {
+					v.remoteWaiters = append(v.remoteWaiters, request.responseChan)
+				}
+			} else {
+				v.locked = true
+				event, err := db.DatabaseLatestEventForPath(request.path)
+				if err != nil {
+					panic(err)
+				}
+				request.responseChan <- event
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+//locks the path to ensure nothing else inside asink is mucking with that file.
+//'local' determines the precedence of the lock - all local lock requesters will
+//be served before any remote requesters.
+//The previous event for this path is returned, nil is returned if no previous event exists
+func LockPath(path string, local bool) (currentEvent *asink.Event) {
+	c := make(chan *asink.Event)
+	pathLockerChan <- &pathMapRequest{path, local, c}
+	return <-c
+}
+
+//unlocks the path, storing the updated event back to the database
+func UnlockPath(event *asink.Event) {
+	pathUnlockerChan <- event
+}