Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site opus.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!seismo!hao!cires!nbires!opus!rcd From: rcd@opus.UUCP Newsgroups: net.unix Subject: Re: /tmp and /usr/tmp Message-ID: <242@opus.UUCP> Date: Mon, 19-Mar-84 14:55:44 EST Article-I.D.: opus.242 Posted: Mon Mar 19 14:55:44 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 21-Mar-84 02:11:36 EST References: <4432@amd70.UUCP> <366@dual.UUCP> Organization: NBI, Boulder Lines: 24 <> The split between /tmp and /usr/tmp is in the same spirit as the split between /bin and /usr/bin. Essentially, you may have some small, fast disks and some larger, slower ones - so you put the more important but smaller stuff in /tmp. Depending on the state of your manual pages, hier(7) will at least suggest this answer. I don't know of anyplace where it is stated that /tmp and /usr/tmp differ in "permanence" - and I would suggest that it would be very unwise to count on anything in either place lasting beyond one terminal session (i.e., remaining after you log out). It's hard to give even a ballpark guide to how big a file can get before it should be put in /usr/tmp rather than /tmp, but I'll submit (at the risk of getting flamed mercilessly) that if it's under 10Kb, /tmp is fine; if it's over a couple hundred Kb it better be in /usr/tmp. The consequences of running out of space in /tmp are sufficiently unpleasant not to betaken lightly. If you have only one chunk of disk for temporary storage, try to arrange so that you still have both /tmp and /usr/tmp, to avoid breaking programs you may receive. (This can be messy - if you don't have symbolic links, it means that /tmp and /usr/tmp have to be in the same filesystem, which leaves you with all of /usr in /.) -- {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd