R16B gained a new NIF API function that allows your NIFs to better co-operate with the vm. Documentation: https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/ef3566f48e08#L0R586 Example: https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/ef3566f48e08#L5R1459 Thanks Sverker! This could be quite useful and ease the wait for native processes :).