"restart()" Julia and keep activated path and working directory

[mschauer]

A feature request of a restart() function which restarts Julia and keeps the current working directory, the activated path and the window. This feature would be independent of a future comeback of the workspace function (#25046).

An almost-implementation by @fredrikekre:

function restart()
    startup = """
        Base.ACTIVE_PROJECT[]=$(repr(Base.ACTIVE_PROJECT[]))
        Base.HOME_PROJECT[]=$(repr(Base.HOME_PROJECT[]))
        cd($(repr(pwd())))
        """
    cmd = `$(Base.julia_cmd()) -ie $startup`
    atexit(()->run(cmd))
    exit(0)
end

This version is nested, so it keeps old display windows open etc. The actual solution would call exec with the right arguments.

[mschauer]

Something somewhat similar can be achieved by adding an atexit hook saving state and a startup script as in

https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-in-your-startup-jl/18228/5

[matthewelmer-tamu]

If this is added as a feature, I would suggest naming it restart_julia() (or not exporting it) so that the user's namespace isn't polluted with a relatively common word.

Fantastic little function, though! Extremely handy for when Revise runs into an edge case.