clearing out /tmp safely

[Jeff Vian]

Robert wrote:

>> --snipped--
>

>>
>> Are you finding files or directories.
>> I do see a list of empty dirs that make /tmp look untidy.
>> An "rmdir /tmp/* " cleans out only the empty ones.
>>
The track.* files you list below are put there by xcdroast (and maybe 
others as well) in the process of copying an audio cd.  They do not get 
cleaned out by tmpwatch, (and I would not want them to be erased 
automatically).

A little attention will take care of the ones that are large enough to 
be at issue, and the rest really won't matter in most cases. YMMV on 
what you are willing to accept, but any changes you want in operation 
are not too difficult to implement.


>>
>>
> There are both directories and files. Here's an example of files:
>
> [root at mavis root]# ls -l /tmp | grep -v ^d | grep track
> -rw-rw-r--    1 root     root     296769536 Jan 26 19:06 track-01.img
> -rw-rw-r--    1 root     root          521 Nov 14 11:10 track-01.inf
> -rw-rw-r--    1 root     root     30604268 Nov 14 11:10 track-01.wav
> -rw-rw-r--    1 root     root          292 Jan 26 19:06 track-01.xinf
> -rw-rw-r--    1 root     root          504 Nov 14 11:10 track-02.inf
> -rw-rw-r--    1 root     root     34017020 Nov 14 11:10 track-02.wav
> -rw-rw-r--    1 root     root          319 Nov 15 12:25 track-02.xinf
> -rw-rw-r--    1 root     root          511 Nov 14 11:10 track-03.inf
> -rw-rw-r--    1 root     root     29741084 Nov 14 11:10 track-03.wav
> -rw-rw-r--    1 root     root          326 Nov 15 12:25 track-03.xinf
> -rw-rw-r--    1 root     root          502 Nov 14 11:10 track-04.inf
> -rw-rw-r--    1 root     root     28468652 Nov 14 11:10 track-04.wav
> -rw-rw-r--    1 root     root          317 Nov 15 12:25 track-04.xinf

--snipped--