Connecting cluster with different cookies

[Raimo Niskanen]

Hello Community.

Regarding a GitHub Issue in progress:
    https://github.com/erlang/otp/issues/5063,
and a corresponding pull request:
    https://github.com/erlang/otp/pull/5062

There is an apparently rarely known API call
erlang:set_cookie(Node, Cookie) that allows you to configure
a cookie to use when communicating with a different node.

This/these set cookie/s may/should be different from the node's
normal (default) cookie, and the functionality exists
to make it possible to connect nodes that have different
default cookies.

The feature is probably rarely used; almost nobody in the
OTP group knew that it existed nor how it is supposed
to be used.  Connecting only nodes with the same cookie
seems to be the norm.

The question is now, is this an essential feature / how
important is this feature?

To completely remove this feature would simplify the code,
but if that should destroy an important use case; removing
would not be an option.

The Issue and PR is about how it is supposed to work; if and
how it should be fixed.


So, what says the Community?  How important feature is it
to be able to connect nodes with different cookies?

Cheers
-- 

/ Raimo Niskanen, Erlang/OTP, Ericsson AB