diff -r 721e468c10f3 -r f28ad4577863 bl/spawn.c
--- a/bl/spawn.c	Fri Jan 27 21:40:35 2012 +0000
+++ b/bl/spawn.c	Mon Jan 30 09:11:07 2012 +0000
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@
 
 #define SPAWN_BUFSIZE	128
 
-gboolean spawn_sync(char **argv,char **standard_output,int *exit_status,
-  GError **error)
+gboolean spawn_sync(const char *working_directory,char **argv,
+  char **standard_output,int *exit_status,GError **error)
 {
 /* Don't use g_spawn_sync on WIN32 for now to avoid needing the helper */
 #ifndef WIN32
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@
     GSpawnFlags flags=G_SPAWN_SEARCH_PATH;
     if (!standard_output)
 	flags=G_SPAWN_STDOUT_TO_DEV_NULL;
-    retval=g_spawn_sync(NULL,argv,NULL,flags,NULL,NULL,standard_output,
-      &standard_error,exit_status,error);
+    retval=g_spawn_sync(working_directory,argv,NULL,flags,NULL,NULL,
+      standard_output,&standard_error,exit_status,error);
     if (standard_error)
 	fputs(standard_error,stderr);
     g_free(standard_error);
@@ -29,7 +29,21 @@
     FILE *fp;
     int i,r;
     size_t n,len;
+    char *current_dir;
     GString *command_line,*string;
+    if (working_directory)
+    {
+	current_dir=g_get_current_dir();
+	if (g_chdir(working_directory)<0)
+	{
+	    g_set_error(error,G_FILE_ERROR,g_file_error_from_errno(errno),
+	      "%s: %s",working_directory,g_strerror(errno));
+	    g_free(current_dir);
+	    return FALSE;
+	}
+    }
+    else
+	current_dir=NULL;
     command_line=g_string_new(NULL);
     for(i=0;argv[i];i++)
     {
@@ -39,6 +53,13 @@
     }
     fp=popen(command_line->str,"r");
     g_string_free(command_line,TRUE);
+    if (current_dir)
+    {
+	if (g_chdir(current_dir)<0)
+	    g_error("Failed to restore current directory: %s",
+	      g_strerror(errno));
+	g_free(current_dir);
+    }
     if (!fp)
     {
 	g_set_error(error,G_FILE_ERROR,g_file_error_from_errno(errno),