[Patches] tempfile: /usr/tmp not FHS-compliant

[Moshe Zadka]

On Fri, 3 Mar 2000, Guido van Rossum wrote:

> I think adding /var/tmp is a good one, but I'm not sure about moving
> /tmp first.  I think that there are (used to be?) systems where /tmp
> doesn't have sufficient space but /usr/tmp does.  On the other hand,
> on Solaris /tmp is a lot faster than /usr/tmp -- /tmp is an in-memory
> filesystem (backed by swap space) while /usr/tmp is on a regular local
> disk.
> 
> Other opinions please?

Personally I like Gerrit's patch, because of the FHS (note that my Linux
system follows the FHS closely enough for the rationale to hold, for 
example.) The "no space on /tmp" argument is bogus: for *large* temporary
file, the location will have to be patched at installation anyway, so
it wouldn't do any good putting that wisdom in a cross-platform module.

OTOH, the "sloppy python programs should be cleaned after" argument wins:
I suspect there are more sloppy programs creating small files and
forgetting to clean up (and /var/tmp is cleaned up less frquently) then
programs needing large temporaries.

--
Moshe Zadka <mzadka@geocities.com>. 
http://www.oreilly.com/news/prescod_0300.html