/tmp ate my files

[Hmse]

Ok I just downloaded amsn and thunderbird, and it put them in /tmp. I looked there jsut to make sure I knew where they were, and they were there. But then when I was ready to install them, the whole /tmp folder contained different files, none of the files I just download were there. I checked where it said the files should be, and it said /tmp
Am I jsut dumb, or did something really happen?

[scinerd]

/tmp is ment for tempory files and getts cleaned out I think on a reboot. I would not store files there. I would suggest you make a tmp directory in your home directory so you can clean it out manualy.

[Hayl]

im really sorry, but this is very funny, and on a par with Windows people using the trash to "store" backups.

Hmse, I'm not laughing at you... but it is funny.

:D

[IsaacKuo]

Originally posted by scinerd
/tmp is ment for tempory files and getts cleaned out I think on a reboot. I would not store files there. I would suggest you make a tmp directory in your home directory so you can clean it out manualy.

Better yet, name it "temporary" or something OTHER than "tmp". There's no sense in causing yourself potential future confusion.

[mdwatts]

Or just create a directory named 'downloads' in your home directory.

[maccorin]

make sure you use tmpfs for whatever dir you do create

EDIT:
Hayl told me in IRC i should make it more obvious that i'm being sarcastic.

so yea...

[sharth]

on a more serious note, /var/tmp is also a temporary storage place that is world readable, however, the files in this location will span through a reboot.

[maccorin]

is there a standard that says /var/tmp will live through a reboot? or is that just based on experience? It wouldn't suprise me if there was a standard, but if there is not, I would not trust that until you've tested it on the distro your using.

[sharth]

Originally posted by maccorin
is there a standard that says /var/tmp will live through a reboot? or is that just based on experience? It wouldn't suprise me if there was a standard, but if there is not, I would not trust that until you've tested it on the distro your using. http://www.pathname.com/fhs/2.2/fhs-5.15.html

fhs says it should.

[maccorin]

Originally posted by sharth
http://www.pathname.com/fhs/2.2/fhs-5.15.html

fhs says it should.

good to know, thanks.

[Hayl]

however, many distros clear some or all of it on boot.

regarless, any place named temp, tmp, /var/tmp is not a place to be storing files that you want to keep.