2 temp directories on hpux

[Shivkumar]

There exist 2 temp directory on hpux. On most of the other unix i guess there is only only /tmp directory.

What are the significance of 2 temp directories on hpux /var/tmp/ and /tmp ??

Thanks,
Shiv

[Steven E. Protter · Accepted solution]

The two directories are for different things.

/tmp is required by a few applications like the oracle installer.

/var/tmp is usually but not always part of the /var filesystem where variable (hence the name) temporary output such as logs are kept.

They can to some degree depending on how you install your hp-ux system be used interchangeably.

Take a look at the contents on a system thats been running for a while.

SEP

[Cem Tugrul]

Shiv,

could you please do a man page ;
#man hier

Good Luck,

[Muthukumar_5]

Difference between /tmp and /var/tmp is,

/tmp is used to generate application logs and will be disappeared on reboot

/var/tmp is also used to generate application logs and will not be disappeared on reboot

hth.

[Rainer von Bongartz]

well, /tmp is not automatically cleaned on reboot.

This task is performed by
/sbin/init.d/clean_tmps
and you have to enable it by setting
CLEAR_TMP=1
in
/etc/rc.config.d/clean_tmps

Regards
Rainer

[Yogeeraj_1]

hi shiv,


/tmp is for System-generated temporary files
/var/tmp is for Application-generated temporary files

These directory generally are not generally cleared between system reboots, you will have to set the flags in /etc/rc.config.d/clean_tmps

LIST_TEMPS=1
CLEAR_TMP=1

hope this helps!

regards
yogeeraj

[Rajesh SB]

Hi Shiv,

To run OS and Application peacefully. It is very important to have sufficeint memory and temporary disk space.

Normal all Unix works same way.

/var/tmp Application-generated temporary files. This directory generally is not cleared between system reboots.

/tmp System-generated temporary files; generally cleared during the boot operation.

System Administrator important task to watch file system space.

Regards,
Rajesh

[Mahesh Kumar Malik]

Hi Shiv

1. /tmp is used for system generated logs

2. /var/tmp is for application related logs.

Preferred option is to have /tmp

Regards
Mahesh

[Bill Hassell]

As mentioned, /tmp is defined as a system-only directory for temporary files. Unfortunately, old habits never die and many, many applications wrongly put their temp files in /tmp. The design is to have /tmp large enough for temp files created by vi and other system tools, but have all other temp files stored in /var/tmp. /var is (or should be) quite large since there are so many directories that need large space (logfiles, mail, spool files, etc). All applications should (ideally) create and use /var/opt// as a temp storage area just for the application, or at least use a directory /var/tmp/.

[Ranjith_5]

Hi Shiva,

/tmp Contains System-generated temporary files, can be used as a space to copy files for time being.

/var/tmp Application-generated temporary files. This also contains temporary files generated by commands in the /usr hierarchy

The /var directory is for multipurpose log, temporary, transient, variable sized, and spool files. The /var directory is extremely variable in size, hence the name. In general, any files that an application or command creates at runtime, and that are not critical to the operation of the system, should be placed in a directory that resides under /var.


Regards,
Syam