080120 Alan McKinnon wrote: > On Sunday 20 January 2008, Philip Webb wrote: >> 080119 Kevin wrote: >>> To automatically wipe /tmp upon reboot, >>> change WIPE_TMP to "yes" in /etc/conf.d/bootmisc >> Thanks: I will consider the implications. > There aren't any implications. > By *definition*, the contents of /tmp should not be relied on > to survive a reboot or even subsequent invocations of the same program. > Any app that does rely on the contents of /tmp still being there is thus > fundamentally broken in it's behaviour and should be avoided or fixed.
Strictly, you are correct -- that's the POSIX rule, which I know about -- , but there is a problem when using Mutt (another user mentioned this). By default, Mutt creates its temporary files in /tmp , which applies to the working file for new msgs even when editing with Vim (which defaults to keeping its .swp running-back-up files in '.'). Leaving the defaults in place, if power fails while composing a msg, the surviving .swp files wb preserved in /tmp , but only if you don't set WIPE_TMP="yes" . If you set that to "yes", when you reboot after the power failure, the .swp back-up wb lost. You need to change .muttrc to include 'set tmpdir="/var/tmp"', which should always survive a reboot (acc to POSIX). -- ========================,,============================================ SUPPORT ___________//___, Philip Webb : [EMAIL PROTECTED] ELECTRIC /] [] [] [] [] []| Centre for Urban & Community Studies TRANSIT `-O----------O---' University of Toronto -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
