Does not work:
bin/mongod --dbpath data/node --fork --logpath log/mongodb.node.log

Fixes:
bin/mongod --dbpath $PWD/data/node --fork --logpath log/mongodb.node.log

Folder structure:
data/node

Executing commands a level above data.

Chat log:

[11:30am] traceback0: I am doing bin/mongod --dbpath ./data/node but it claims it can't find that path
[11:30am] traceback0: doesn't look like it's relative?
[11:31am] mstearn: traceback0: does that path exist?
[11:31am] traceback0: mstearn: $pwd/data/node does
[11:31am] traceback0: mstearn: If I run it w/o --fork / --logpath it works
[11:32am] mstearn: hrm
[11:32am] traceback0: weird..
[11:32am] mstearn: try a non-relative path with fork
[11:33am] traceback0: mstearn: yeah if I tack on a $PWD/data/node – works fine
[11:34am] traceback0: looks like a bug
[11:34am] mstearn: traceback0: could you jira it?