A question about /tmp

[Chuck Swiger]

Gary Mulder wrote:
> Of course having /tmp -> /var/tmp means that you have no valid /tmp in 
> single user mode where /var is not mounted. That is unless you created 
> /var/tmp in single user mode, but that would mean /var would be mounted 
> over the root partition's /var/tmp dir in multi-user mode, which can be 
> non-intuitive to say the least.

Excellent point.  I think one is much safer having /tmp as a directory on the 
root filesystem, and using something like md(4) to mount a RAMdisk over that 
location when going into multiuser mode (or mount a real /tmp partition if you 
prefer).

> The net result of not having a valid /tmp is that some commands issued 
> in single-user mode may fail non-obviously as they might (reasonably?) 
> assume /tmp is available.

In particular, editors like vi.  :-)

-- 
-Chuck