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Subject: Re: FreeBSDDEATH.c.txt (mmap dirty page no check bug)
From: David Pick (D.M.Pickqmw.ac.uk)
Date: Wed Jun 07 2000 - 03:52:34 CDT

> Maybe on your system it is, but try running a multi-user system that
> way and you will quickly find your /var/tmp filled up to the brim. Or,
> worse, you will find one of the two tmp directories filling up while
> the other remains entirely empty, or vise-versa depending on which
> programs your users run.
>
> The argument that we should have two tmp's because one should be
> treated differently from the other doesn't hold any water. There
> should be one tmp, period. Since programs tend to use /var/tmp
> and /tmp interchangeably these days, one has to be a symlink to the
> other. But trying to classify the two as having to have different
> characteristics only creates sysadmin headaches.
>
> What it comes down to is that it is far easier and far more robust to
> have a single (larger) temporary filesystem to maintain then to have
> two.

I think I have to agree with Matthews comments here. Generally, one
filesystem for temporary files uses disc space better and means there
are a smaller number of filesystems that can get filled up by rampant
"temporary" file creations.

Personally, I prefer a separate filesystem (on disc, not in memory) in
most cases, to avoid rampant temporary files screwing up the logs, but
if not I think "/var" is the best bet. "/usr" is not a good idea because
I think it's a good idea to mount "/usr" read-only if possible.

If you really want to make the distinction between "/tmp" and "/var/tmp"
in terms of files being automatically cleared, I suggest that a "temp"
filesystem called (for example) "/temp" could have a directory in it
called "temporally_temporary" which could be cleared, and:
        /var/tmp -> /temp
        /tmp -> /temp/temporally_temporary
or, if there is no separate filesystem, a similar:
        /tmp -> /var/tmp/temporally_temporary 

-- 
	David Pick

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