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  • 1.  /var/tmp - what is it and how to clean it up?

    Posted Tue March 09, 2021 05:48 AM
    Hello.
    On one of my systems I can find a lot of subdirs in /var/tmp. Names of them are similar to rpm packages:
    # ls -la /var/tmp | head -30
    total 536
    drwxrwxrwt 84 bin bin 8192 Mar 09 10:35 .
    drwxr-xr-x 39 bin bin 4096 Mar 21 2020 ..
    drwxrwxrwt 2 root system 256 Feb 22 2011 .oracle
    drwxr-xr-x 2 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 AIX-rpm-6.1.8.15-4
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root system 0 Apr 07 2012 DS4900cudv.out
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root system 0 Apr 07 2012 DS5100cudv.out
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root system 0 Apr 07 2012 DS5300cudv.out
    -rw------- 1 209 ictest 0 Sep 13 2013 Ex01300
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root system 18122 Mar 21 2020 aixmibd.log
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 apr-1.6.3-1
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 apr-util-1.5.4-3
    drwxr-xr-x 3 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 apr-util-ldap-1.5.4-3
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 autoconf-2.69-1
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 automake-1.14-1
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root system 388 Mar 20 2016 b315506714101604.log
    drwxr-xr-x 5 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 bash-4.3-12
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 binutils-2.14-3
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 bzip2-1.0.6-1
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 coreutils-8.23-1
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 curl-7.27.0-1
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 db4-4.8.30-1
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 expat-2.2.5-1
    drwxr-xr-x 2 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 expect-5.42.1-3
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 findutils-4.4.2-3
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 fontconfig-2.8.0-2
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 freetype2-2.8.1-1
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 gcc-4.8.1-1
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 gcc-c++-4.8.1-1
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 gcc-cpp-4.8.1-1

    If I enter e.g. to curl-7.27.0-1 dir and print its contents, it's like this:

    # ls -laR
    total 16
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 .
    drwxrwxrwt 84 bin bin 8192 Mar 09 10:35 ..
    drwxr-xr-x 3 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 opt
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 usr
    ./opt:
    total 0
    drwxr-xr-x 3 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 .
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 ..
    drwxr-xr-x 6 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 freeware

    ./opt/freeware:
    total 0
    drwxr-xr-x 6 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 .
    drwxr-xr-x 3 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 ..
    drwxr-xr-x 2 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 bin
    drwxr-xr-x 3 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 doc
    drwxr-xr-x 2 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 lib
    drwxr-xr-x 3 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 man

    ./opt/freeware/bin:
    total 296
    drwxr-xr-x 2 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 .
    drwxr-xr-x 6 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 ..
    -rwxr-xr-x 1 root system 151243 Aug 29 2012 curl

    ./opt/freeware/doc:
    total 8
    drwxr-xr-x 3 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 .
    drwxr-xr-x 6 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 ..
    drwxr-xr-x 2 root system 4096 Apr 16 2018 curl-7.27.0

    ./opt/freeware/doc/curl-7.27.0:
    total 704
    drwxr-xr-x 2 root system 4096 Apr 16 2018 .
    drwxr-xr-x 3 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 ..
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root system 6044 Jul 20 2012 BUGS
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root system 181955 Jul 27 2012 CHANGES
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root system 1044 Apr 25 2012 COPYING
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root system 59952 Jul 20 2012 FAQ
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root system 3904 Jul 20 2012 FEATURES
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root system 36700 Jul 20 2012 MANUAL
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root system 1607 Mar 19 2011 README
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root system 2287 Mar 19 2011 RESOURCES
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root system 21874 Jun 03 2012 TODO
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root system 21751 Mar 19 2011 TheArtOfHttpScripting

    ./opt/freeware/lib:
    total 2856
    drwxr-xr-x 2 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 .
    drwxr-xr-x 6 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 ..
    -rwxr-xr-x 1 root system 1458798 Aug 29 2012 libcurl.a

    ./opt/freeware/man:
    total 0
    drwxr-xr-x 3 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 .
    drwxr-xr-x 6 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 ..
    drwxr-xr-x 2 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 man1

    ./opt/freeware/man/man1:
    total 176
    drwxr-xr-x 2 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 .
    drwxr-xr-x 3 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 ..
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root system 86027 Aug 29 2012 curl.1

    ./usr:
    total 0
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 .
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 ..
    drwxr-xr-x 2 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 bin
    drwxr-xr-x 2 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 lib

    ./usr/bin:
    total 0
    drwxr-xr-x 2 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 .
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 ..
    lrwxrwxrwx 1 root system 27 Feb 11 2019 curl -> ../../opt/freeware/bin/curl

    ./usr/lib:
    total 0
    drwxr-xr-x 2 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 .
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root system 256 Apr 16 2018 ..
    lrwxrwxrwx 1 root system 32 Feb 11 2019 libcurl.a -> ../../opt/freeware/lib/libcurl.a



    What are these directories, files? Are they necessary? How can I clean this up?
    Thanks a lot in advance.

    ------------------------------
    Karol Ciesla
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: /var/tmp - what is it and how to clean it up?

    Posted Tue March 09, 2021 11:54 PM
    Hi,
    My understanding is that files kept here for a more permanent storage than /tmp - some are important logs you may want to survive reboot and other rpm components.  Originally these files were in /usr/tmp, but as /usr can be read only for some configurations (diskless workstations etc), it is now a symbolic link to /var/tmp.  Thus I recommend leaving them there.

    However, I did notice that you are using very old versions and the later versions I am using install components under /opt by default.  A worthwhile exercise might be to download the latest versions from toolbox (https://public.dhe.ibm.com/aix/freeSoftware/aixtoolbox/RPMS), remove your versions (confirming that /var/tmp is tidier), then install the new versions.
    Please let me know how it goes,
    Cheers,

    ------------------------------
    --------------------
    Antony Steel (Red)
    ===============
    ------------------------------

    Original Message