Is there a JVM command-line option to change directory?

Question

In short, I want to know, is there a JVM command-line option to change the starting working directory? If it's important, I'm running jdk1.6.0_24.

Background:

I am using a tool called Robolectric for Eclipse to test Android applications on the host PC without emulation. Robolectric requires a test project be created, but the tests themselves to be run from the Android project under test. This is accomplished by from Eclipse, setting the run configuration to the project under test in the setting: "Run all tests in the selected project, package or source folder."

I want to do this from the JVM command line options, if possible, because another tool I use, Infinitest, doesn't allow you to specify the working directory of the tests. It does, however, let you specify JVM command-line options.

Workaround:

Until I find a better workaround, a successful kluge has been to copy the AndroidManifest.xml and res folder from the Android project.

Answer 1

"Current working directory" is an OS concept, not a JVM one, so you'll need to find a solution at that level, such as writing a batch or shell script.

Answer 2

In Java SE, the "current directory" is put into the system property user.dir.

Manually override this value using a -D option might work:

java -Duser.dir=/some/directory ....

But I don't know if this also applies to the JVM used in Android

Answer 3

I would look into running the robolectric tests within a Maven build. That makes it way easier to run the tests. Within Eclipse as well. And there is probably infinitest support for Maven as well.