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From: crs@lanl.gov (Charlie Sorsby)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Question about /tmp
Date: 2 Jan 1997 18:22:28 GMT
Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Lines: 57
Message-ID: <5agud4$6jr@newshost.lanl.gov>
Reply-To: crs@hamlet.lanl.gov crs@swcp.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: hamlet.lanl.gov
Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:33507
This began as a simple question but, as I asked, more and more
possible complications suggested themselves to me--and I haven't
even typed in all that I can think of. Perhaps the question that I
should have asked is "What can I do to prevent /tmp from filling up
my root file system?"
Anyway, Since I've already typed it in, I'll leave the following
for background, if nothing else.
I have a question about /tmp. I'm running FreeBSD 2.1.5.
My root file system is about 32MB. It seems possible that /tmp may,
in some circumstances, fill up that file system, so I'd like to have
/tmp effectively on a larger file system. But I don't want to have
to reinstall everything in order to rearrange my file systems ( /,
/dos, /home, /usr, /var, /proc ) so I can add one for /tmp.
Suppose that I create /usr/tmp with the same modes as /tmp (i.e.
drwxrwxrwt) and create a symbolic link to /tmp.
First: Will this work or will it break something? One thing that I
can foresee is that, when /usr isn't mounted (e.g. in single user
mode) I'd have no /tmp. Is the only time the directory, /tmp, is
created during the installation of the root file system? If so,
this may not even be possible. I guess what I would have to do (it
it is possible) is to mkdir /tmp very early on and, then, later in
the boot process (e.g. just before /tmp is cleared) do something
like "rm -rf /tmp && ln -s /usr/tmp /tmp" which would, clearly,
specialize my system to one that will not have a separate partition
mounted on /tmp.
Second: Where should I create the link? In /etc/rc? Presumably, I
should do so before the section of /etc/rc that clears /tmp. Will
the existing code in /etc/rc still clear the now "bigger" /tmp? I
know that in ordinary circumstances "rm -f Dir/*" where Dir is a
symbolic link to an actual directory will remove files from the
actual directory but I'm concerned that I'm overlooking something
in this case, e.g. because of the "find" used to prevent removal of
lost+found, et al, in the case that /tmp is a separate partition.
Third: Is there a better way?
Fourth: Or am I just being overly paranoid about the possibility
that /tmp will, someday, fill up the root file system?
Thanks for any help.
I try to keep up with the news group but, just in case, could you
Cc: any responses to either crs@swcp.com or crs@hamlet.lanl.gov,
please? Just to make sure that I don't miss a valued response...
--
Best,
Charlie "Older than dirt" Sorsby "I'm the NRA!"
crs@swcp.com crs@hamlet.lanl.gov Life Member since 1965