CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javaunixprocessbuilderhome-directory
amaidment
amaidment

Reputation: 7268

Using Java ProcessBuilder, how do I run a process located in a unix home directory?

We have a Java server-client application that allows us to run processes on different boxes (i.e. the clients), which are started by the Java ProcessBuilder. I want to run a process that will be copied/synced to the user's home directory (i.e. the user who started the client).

How do I reference the unix home directory in the String that is passed to the ProcessBuilder? (Due to the design of the server-client application, only a String of the process, args etc. is passed to the ProcessBuilder.)

It works if I state the home directory explicitly:

However, that assumes that I know which user is running the client. (Part of the design is that we can switch/substitute boxes/clients to run jobs, without necessarily knowing who started the client on a given box.)

I've also tried, but to no avail:

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1826

Answers (4)

amaidment
amaidment

Reputation: 7268

In the end, the approach I took was to pass the script and its arguments to bash - along the lines of:

ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder("/bin/bash", "-c", "$HOME/processes/process.sh args");

Upvotes: 1

Adam
Adam

Reputation: 36703

The issue is that both ~ and $HOME are only understood by your shell, probably BASH, not by ProcessBuilder or Java.

$HOME should be available via the property user.home. See System Properties documentation

String home = System.getProperty("user.home");

i.e.

File fullpath = new File(System.getProperty("user.home"), "processes/process.sh");
ProcessBuilder processBuilder = new ProcessBuilder(fullpath.getAbsolutePath());

or could call it relative to current directory

ProcessBuilder processBuilder = new ProcessBuilder("processes/process.sh");
processBuilder.directory(new File(System.getProperty("user.home")));

Upvotes: 3

Andrew Henle
Andrew Henle

Reputation: 1

From a command line, both $HOME and ~ are expanded to a user's home directory by the shell.

ProcessBuilder runs the process directly with no shell, so those expansions will not work.

Upvotes: 0

thopaw
thopaw

Reputation: 4044

Not tried it myself but that should work:

Change into the home before and then execute the process.sh

cd && ./processes/process.sh

Upvotes: -1

Related Questions