/tmp vs /var/tmp

[birger]

I am old school / enterprise oriented, so I feel /var/tmp is correct for
this kind of files.

Traditionally /var/tmp was for larger temporary files, and more
long-lived ones. /var/tmp traditionally survives a reboot while /tmp may
not. Some systems regenerate /tmp on boot, and some use a memory file
system. In the memory file system scenario storing big files there will
fill system memory.

On linux workstations the difference is usually just that if /var is a
separate partition then /var/tmp may have more available disk space
than /tmp.

And of course nowadays /tmp may be on SSD (where you don't really want
to write all your big temporary files) while in a system with multiple
disks /var/tmp is more probable to be on traditional disk.

So my vote is to keep the distinction as it used to be, and perhaps
report the new firefox behaviour as a bug if it really is a new default.

birger


On Mon, 2015-04-13 at 09:29 -0400, Max Pyziur wrote:
> Greetings,
> 
> Is there a setting that controls where temporary files are stored (/tmp vs 
> /var/tmp)?
> 
> When I did a fresh install of F21 temporary files such as the pdf ones 
> opened by Firefox are now stored in /tmp; before they were stored in 
> /var/tmp.
> 
> Much thanks,
> 
> Max Pyziur
> pyz at brama.com