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Re: [PLUG] Laptop recovery--useful data to collect?--A tangent
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Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2010 05:31:24 -0400
From: LeRoy<ldc@lrcressy.com>
... /var/tmp is a symlink to /tmp ...
That is severely broken and a Bad Idea because it is a violation of the
Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS).
--- quote ---
http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#TMPTEMPORARYFILES
/tmp : Temporary files
Purpose
The /tmp directory must be made available for programs that require
temporary files.
Programs must not assume that any files or directories in /tmp are
preserved between invocations of the program.
Rationale
IEEE standard P1003.2 (POSIX, part 2) makes requirements that are
similar to the above section.
Although data stored in /tmp may be deleted in a site-specific manner,
it is recommended that files and directories located in /tmp be deleted
whenever the system is booted.
FHS added this recommendation on the basis of historical precedent and
common practice, but did not make it a requirement because system
administration is not within the scope of this standard.
http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#VARTMPTEMPORARYFILESPRESERVEDBETWEE
/var/tmp : Temporary files preserved between system reboots
Purpose
The /var/tmp directory is made available for programs that require
temporary files or directories that are preserved between system
reboots. Therefore, data stored in /var/tmp is more persistent than data
in /tmp.
Files and directories located in /var/tmp must not be deleted when the
system is booted. Although data stored in /var/tmp is typically deleted
in a site-specific manner, it is recommended that deletions occur at a
less frequent interval than /tmp.
--- end quote ---
Despite sometimes seeming very odd or arbitrary, the Unix/Linux file
system is set up in specific ways for a reason. Don't mess with it (I'm
looking at you Apple!).
(OK, yes, some of those reasons are no longer as important as they once
were, what with larger disks and untrusted networks. Still... Go read
the FHS, it's an interesting look at *why* things are the way they are.
Also, go read _Absolute FreeBSD_; you will learn a lot more about
*why* things are the way they are and *why* things work the way they work.)
Later,
JP
----------------------------|:::======|-------------------------------
JP Vossen, CISSP |:::======| http://bashcookbook.com/
My Account, My Opinions |=========| http://www.jpsdomain.org/
----------------------------|=========|-------------------------------
"Microsoft Tax" = the additional hardware & yearly fees for the add-on
software required to protect Windows from its own poorly designed and
implemented self, while the overhead incidentally flattens Moore's Law.
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