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erlangelixirworking-directory

Can different Erlang processes have independent working directories?

Any process modification cwd is global:

iex(1)> File.cwd
{:ok, "/home/hentioe"}
iex(2)> spawn fn -> File.cd("/home")  end
#PID<0.105.0>
iex(3)> File.cwd                         
{:ok, "/home"}

Is there a way to isolate the current working directory (cwd) between processes?

Solution

  • There is a concept of file server in ErlangVM and the original :file.set_cwd/1, File.cwd/1 delegates to, is explicitly made to set the working directory of the file server.

    File server on different node always differs, also there are several functions one might call to bypass the file server (grep :file documentation for “file server”.)

    It is unclear why would you need another current directory for the different process and it all smells like an XY problem, but the generic answer to your question would be:

    → no, all the processes on the same node are using the same file server and hence have the same working directory across processes.