HI,
I am using a Red Hat Linux release 9 (Shrike).
I have a shell program that makes use of a particular file (that i myself have put) in the /tmp directory

Now, so far everything is good with the program execution.
My only fear is about the files in the /tmp getting deleted.
is it true that the files in /tmp get deleted?
if yes, how often and when.

Also, in order to test the same i rebooted the machine and saw that no files in the /tmp were deleted.
so, am i good to go with my file in /tmp directory ?

please share your thoughts.

Thanks.

Hi,

Although I'm not 100% sure if RedHat 9 does delete the files in /tmp, it is not a good idea to use /tmp to store files for later use.

The FHS recommends /tmp to be deleted whenever the system is booted. It is a recommendation, not a requirement so RH9 might or might not delete the content of /tmp.

I would suggest using a different location to store your files, if you ever switch distro's (or have to work on a different one) you won't get any nasty surprises.

Hope this helps.

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RHL9 (which BTW is deprecated, unsupported and vulnerable to a host of exploits and should not ever be used connected to any network) will delete files in /tmp if tmpwatch is installed ('rpm -q tmpwatch' or 'which tmpwatch') and its /etc/cron.daily/tmpwatch cronjob runs. I agree /tmp is not the place to store files, not only because of the FSSTND / FHS but also because /tmp is shared by all users, so if you use the wrong umask or explicitly set write rights for others you're setting yourself up for a nasty surprise.

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I believe tmpwatch takes into account when the file was accessed and deletes those which haven't been accessed in a while. I don't believe it runs by default and being a long time RH 7.3 user (not anymore), I've never known it, or any of the later red hat releases I've used to delete files in /tmp

You can make the files immutable, which means that even God himself cannot delete them.

use
chattr +i filename

But you have to be root to set/unset. It also will block any changes to the file. I don't know if you need to modify it, or just read it. No process can delete the file now, not even those run by root.

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True. So after ten days (IIRC the default) of a file not having it's atime (default) updated one wonders where it is...


Can't remember if it was a default base installation in Red Hat Linux but once installed it installs its cronjob.


Only goes to show that because you've never known it this doesn't automagically mean it doesn't exist. I'm pretty sure I encountered it in Red Hat Linux 5


Good one but following the FHS would be better.

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thank you folks.
it helps...
so which location on my linux system do you recommend to have this file placed?
something that is safe to place the file in.

Try /usr/local/bin

Hi Everyone,
The files in /tmp are deleted after a specified period of time. I think this definitely depends upon factors mentioned by BoraxMan but some files on my RedHat where deleted after 30 days.