[Gllug] Wiping free space.

Alain Williams addw at phcomp.co.uk
Tue Dec 29 16:12:22 UTC 2009


On Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 04:08:49PM +0000, Richard Jones wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 03:42:11PM +0000, Simon Wilcox wrote:
> > On 29/12/09 15:36, Rich Walker wrote:
> > > On 29/12/2009 15:22, JLMS wrote:
> > > 
> > >> /var/tmp is supposed to be persistent between boots, I have seen some
> > >> dumb applications wanting to find something there to function
> > >> properly, so beware :-)
> > > 
> > > *sound of head banging on desk*
> > 
> > It's defined that way in the FHS:
> > 
> > http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#VARTMPTEMPORARYFILESPRESERVEDBETWEE
> 
> Indeed, but no sane app should depend on this behaviour.
> 
> 'rm -rf /var/tmp/*' is a perfectly valid thing for an admin to do if,
> say, /var/tmp is filling up and preventing the machine from booting.

If you don't know what is running, this will remove stuff more than 1 hour old:

	find /var/tmp -mmin +60 | xargs rm -f

> Apps should store cached data that they want to be persistent
> somewhere else, like /var/cache (still allowing the admin to delete
> it) or /var/lib.


-- 
Alain Williams
Linux/GNU Consultant - Mail systems, Web sites, Networking, Programmer, IT Lecturer.
+44 (0) 787 668 0256  http://www.phcomp.co.uk/
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