system calls and threading question

[Yariv Sadan]

Hi,

I have a question about how Erlang handles system calls: what effect
(if any) does a function call that leads to system call invocation
(e.g. os:cmd) have on the scheduler? Do such system calls block the
entire BEAM process (and hence all lightweight Erlang processes) or
are they handled in a separate system thread (or thread pool), such
that other lightweight processes are not blocked?

Thanks in advance,
Yariv