Multiple instances of bitcoin-qt with different -datadir?

[ShadesOfMarble]

...is it possible/recommended? I.e. running the same executable, but with different data folders. I did it by accident and nothing screwed up, but i don't know if that's safe. (Usually I shut down the client and restart it with a different datadir)

[kjj]

I know it works just fine in bitcoind, and I don't think that bitcoin-qt opens any different files, so I don't think it would be a problem.

[Stephen Gornick]

...is it possible/recommended? I.e. running the same executable, but with different data folders. I did it by accident and nothing screwed up, but i don't know if that's safe. (Usually I shut down the client and restart it with a different datadir)

Sometimes people think this is a way to re-use the same blockchain, so just wanted to point out that this method will maintain the blockchain database in each datadir.

[ShadesOfMarble]

Yes of course - there are blk000* files in each directory. But unless there is a -walletdir option, this looks like the only way to manage different wallets.