Subject: Re: PKG_TMPDIR @ /var/tmp
To: Todd Vierling <firstname.lastname@example.org>
From: Julian Assange <email@example.com>
Date: 09/23/2000 06:02:40
> Something just struck me as odd wrt PKG_TMPDIR. From the pkg_* man pages:
> PKG_TMPDIR, TMPDIR
> These are tried in turn (if set) as candidate directories in
> which to create a ``staging area'' for any files extracted by
> pkg_info from package files. If neither PKG_TMPDIR nor TMPDIR
> yields a suitable scratch directory, /var/tmp, /tmp, and
> /usr/tmp are tried in turn. Note that /usr/tmp may be creat-
> ed, if it doesn't already exist.
> Why would we prefer /var/tmp over /tmp for files that are unusable across a
> reboot? If the process is interrupted by a reboot, you can't `recover' as
> with ex/vi....
Because the staging area often needs huge amounts of space.