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Working directory not fully "inherited" by task batch-file commands?
Working directory not fully "inherited" by task batch-file commands?
- Hello all, If I set the working directory to \\server\share, and submit a job with a single task which is a batch file with two commands in it: echo “testing” > out del out It will create the file “out” under \\server\share, but fails on the “del” saying “The file name, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.” If I change the line “del out” to “del \\server\share\out” it succeeds. Whatever I set “Working directory” to, or if I let it default to my profile on the node, it creates “out”, but the “del” never finds it unless I hard-code it. Why must I hard-code the absolute UNC path? Note if I login manually to the node and “cd \\server\share; cmd.exe /c \\server\share\file.bat” it works fine. How can I use relative paths for all files in a task’s batch file? It seems working directory isn’t being used for every command (like del), but only for some (like echo + redirect). This is running 2003 Compute Cluster, Job Manager 1.0.067614. Thanks for any tips.
Answers
- Interesting question! You are hitting an extension of the the famous "cmd.exe doesn't allow UNC working directories" issue. Unfortunately that has been a knonw issue for users and will probably never change :( Basically once the working directory is set to a UNC path, some of the built in cmd.exe primitives (like del) won't work. You don't need a batch script to do this; try creating a single task job that runs del on a UNC path and you will hit the same problem (job submit /workdir:\\server\share del somefile.txt).
In addition to the workaround that you found (just put the whole path to whatever you want to delete), you can write a more robust script using an environment variable. For example, if your task was converted from "del somefile.txt" to "del %CCP_WORKDIR%\somefile.txt" it should do the right thing and delete somefile.txt form the task's working directory. There are many other solutions which are possible as well.
I'm sorry I don't have better news.
Thanks!
Josh
-Josh- Marked As Answer byJosh BarnardMSFT, OwnerTuesday, September 08, 2009 11:15 PM
All Replies
- You could use a batch file test.bat with:
echo "testing" > out del out
in it.
I assume this would work.
- Interesting question! You are hitting an extension of the the famous "cmd.exe doesn't allow UNC working directories" issue. Unfortunately that has been a knonw issue for users and will probably never change :( Basically once the working directory is set to a UNC path, some of the built in cmd.exe primitives (like del) won't work. You don't need a batch script to do this; try creating a single task job that runs del on a UNC path and you will hit the same problem (job submit /workdir:\\server\share del somefile.txt).
In addition to the workaround that you found (just put the whole path to whatever you want to delete), you can write a more robust script using an environment variable. For example, if your task was converted from "del somefile.txt" to "del %CCP_WORKDIR%\somefile.txt" it should do the right thing and delete somefile.txt form the task's working directory. There are many other solutions which are possible as well.
I'm sorry I don't have better news.
Thanks!
Josh
-Josh- Marked As Answer byJosh BarnardMSFT, OwnerTuesday, September 08, 2009 11:15 PM
- Thanks Josh, I appreciate the feedback (although too bad about cmd.exe).
