When trying to get erlang's gproc lib to work between nodes I found lots of people describing the problem and some information but no straight-forward examples. So here it is.

Run

make

Recipe

1. clone gproc
2. build with GPROC_DIST to pull in gen_leader
3. invoke erl with -gproc gproc_dist all
4. ensure nodes see each other before starting gproc
5. gproc:reg({,g,})

Issues

• gproc_dist/gen_leader doesn't handle netsplits, which is why the application must be started after connecting to other nodes.

Output

Initial run should pull in and build gproc/gen_leader; subsequent invocations should look like:

[ -d gproc ] || git clone https://github.com/uwiger/gproc.git
[ -d gproc/deps/gen_leader/ebin ] || GPROC_DIST=true make -C gproc
erlc node1.erl
erlc node2.erl
# launch node 1 in background...
erl -name node1@127.0.0.1                         \
        -noshell                                  \
        -pa gproc/ebin gproc/deps/gen_leader/ebin \
        -gproc gproc_dist all                     \
        -s node1 run &
# launch node 2 and wait for it to finish and kill both nodes
erl -name node2@127.0.0.1                         \
        -noshell                                  \
        -pa gproc/ebin gproc/deps/gen_leader/ebin \
        -gproc gproc_dist all                     \
        -s node2 run 
node1 waiting to hear from somebody...
node1 ok, so I see ['node2@127.0.0.1']
node2 I can see ['node1@127.0.0.1']
node1 reg: true
node1 double-check name I just registered: <0.2.0>
node2 waiting for global name registered elsewhere...
node2 sweet, I see it: <4868.2.0>