Clearing tmp files

[Liam Proven]

On 12/10/2007, Charlie Kravetz <cjk at teamcharliesangels.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 2007-10-12 at 11:40 +0800, gup502 wrote:
> > Hi All,
> >
> > I come from Mandriva.  There is an option to set the system to clear
> > temp files at boot.  If that is not selected, the temp files will
> > quickly add up.  I do not see that option in Ubuntu. Is that required in
> > Ubuntu?
> >
> > Cheers.
> >
> > Terence
> >
> > Send instant messages to your online friends http://au.messenger.yahoo.com
> >
> >
> /tmp can indeed be a separate partition, and if you choose to manually
> partition your drive when installing ubuntu, you can not continue
> installation without creating /tmp.

That is simply not true. I always custom-partition my disks and I have
never in 20y with Unix set up a single machine with a dedicated /tmp
partition. I always leave it on the root FS.

>  However, I have never had occasion
> to clear my /tmp partition in two years. I have done so once by mistake,
> and it took a bit to get the system to boot again. Apparently, at least
> some versions of ubuntu do store boot files there.
>
> Example:  GNOME in /etc/gdm/gdm.conf-custom has the option to set the
> directory where user's .Xauthority file should should be saved.
> (USERAuthDir=/tmp)

That's scary. I think that ought to be filed as a bug. In my book,
*nothing* in /tmp should be of value by the next boot.

-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/liamproven
Email: lproven at cix.co.uk • GMail/GoogleTalk/Orkut: lproven at gmail.com
Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 • Cell: +44 7939-087884 • Fax: + 44 870-9151419
AOL/AIM/iChat: liamproven at aol.com • MSN/Messenger: lproven at hotmail.com
Yahoo: liamproven at yahoo.co.uk • Skype: liamproven • ICQ: 73187508