Hasty Briefsbeta

Elixir/Ports and external process wiring

2 days ago
  • #rsync
  • #external-processes
  • #Elixir
  • The article discusses interfacing Elixir with external processes, specifically focusing on controlling rsync.
  • It highlights the challenges of running rsync asynchronously and monitoring its progress.
  • The use of Elixir's Port.open for spawning external processes is explained, along with handling progress updates.
  • The article delves into the issues of runaway processes when the Elixir process terminates but the external process continues.
  • Solutions like shimming and using C programs to manage process termination are explored.
  • The discussion includes the potential for future improvements in the Port API and handling of external processes in Erlang/OTP.