added a convenience method

core/src/main/java/hudson/FilePath.java

@@ -2450,4 +2450,16 @@ public final class FilePath implements Serializable {
             throw new AssertionError(e);
         }
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Gets the {@link FilePath} representation of the "~" directory
+     * (User's home directory in the Unix sense) of the given channel.
+     */
+    public static FilePath getHomeDirectory(VirtualChannel ch) throws InterruptedException, IOException {
+        ch.call(new Callable<FilePath,IOException>() {
+            public FilePath call() throws IOException {
+                return new FilePath(new File(System.getProperty("user.home")));
+            }
+        });
+    }
 }