Using TMPFS for /tmp and /var/run?

[Luke Dean]

On Fri, 30 Mar 2012, Chris Rees wrote:

> On 30 Mar 2012 14:26, <sthaug at nethelp.no> wrote:
>>
>>>> However, if you always want to use tmpfs instead of stable storage,
>>> please do not.  Some people expect /tmp to be persistent.  This is why
>>> /etc/defaults/rc.conf has clear_tmp_enable="NO".  Changing this would
> break
>>> the POLA.
>>>>
>>> This is a mistake.
>>>
>>> The default should be clear_tmp_enable="YES"
>>> if only to uncover those broken configurations that expect /tmp to be
>>> persistent.
>>
>> If you want to break POLA and make a lot of people angry, sure.
>> Otherwise no.
>>
>
> I would very much like an example of where /tmp is expected to persist.
>
> Chris

Yes, I'm a month behind on my mailing list reading and this conversation 
is probably over, but I do have a personal example.

In my periodic.conf, I have:
daily_clean_tmps_enable="YES"
daily_clean_tmps_days="30"

I tend to have many distractions and work on many projects at the same
time.  I don't always know when I'm finished.  Sometimes I just lose
interest.  I often don't remember to clean up after myself.

These settings in periodic.conf allow me to set up temporary workspaces in 
/tmp.  If I keep working on a project, my files remain.  If I forget about 
it for a month, periodic will clean up my mess.

If someday the default behavior were changed to make /tmp a memory-mounted 
filesystem or to clean it out on every reboot, I think I could set 
daily_clean_tmps_dirs to another directory and move my sandbox someplace 
else.  I would very much appreciate some warning, but this would not be a 
problem for me.