multiple processes, private working directories

[Tim Arnold]

"Tim Arnold" <a_jtim at bellsouth.net> wrote in message 
news:57cdd3f1-cde8-45f5-b9d9-3eef32010bda at l43g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
>I have a bunch of processes to run and each one needs its own working
> directory. I'd also like to know when all of the processes are
> finished.

Thanks for the ideas everyone--I now have some news tools in the toolbox. 
The task is to use pdflatex to compile a bunch of (>100)  chapters and know 
when the book is complete (i.e. the book pdf is done and the separate 
chapter pdfs are finished. I have to wait for that before I start some 
postprocessing and reporting chores.

My original scheme was to use a class to manage the builds with threads, 
calling pdflatex within each thread. Since pdflatex really does need to be 
in the directory with the source, I had a problem.

I'm reading now about python's multiprocessing capabilty, but I think I can 
use Karthik's suggestion to call pdflatex in subprocess with the cwd set. 
That seems like the simple solution at this point, but I'm going to give 
Cameron's pipes suggestion a go as well.

In any case, it's clear I need to rethink the problem. Thanks to everyone 
for helping me get past my brain-lock.

--Tim Arnold