Directory Layout for Erlang Services?

Question

In our Java applications we typically use the maven conventions (docs, src/java, test, etc.). For Perl we follow similar conventions only using a top level 'lib' which is easy to add to Perl's @INC.

I'm about to embark on creating a service written in Erlang, what's a good source layout for Erlang applications?

Answer 1

The Erlang recommended standard directory structure can be found here.

In addition you may need a few more directories depending on your project, common ones are (credit to Vance Shipley):

    lib:        OS driver libraries
    bin:        OS executables
    c_src:      C language source files (e.g. for drivers)
    java_src:   Java language source files
    examples:   Example code
    mibs:       SNMP MIBs

Other projects such as Mochiweb have their own structures, Mochiweb even have a script to create it all for you. Other projects such as Erlware overlay on the standard structure.

Answer 2

Another critical directory is the priv directory. Here you can store files that can easily be found from your applications.

code:priv_dir(Name) -> string() | {error, bad_name}

where Name is the name of your application.