How big should /var/tmp be?

JoshuaBranson

JoshuaBranson

I plan on installing a couple of programs using source code: FireFox, AbiWord, Xfce, etc.
How big should I make my /var/tmp? I'd also like to download the source code for the FreeBSD kernel. Does FreeBSD install source into /var/tmp?
 
/var/tmp is used as temporary place for an unpacked packages, before being installed.
A good idea is to delete that directory
rm -rf /var/tmp
and create a softlink to /tmp instead of this
ln -s /tmp /var/tmp
And better is to move /tmp into SWAPSACE
by editing /etc/rc.conf
Code: 
tmpmfs="YES"
tmpmfs_flags="-m 0 -o async,noatime -S -p 1777"
tmpsize="768m"
Now I have allocated 768 Mb of SWAP area for temporary storage.
That will do for any heavy compile or large package install.
 
Programs that are built from ports use a work dir which resides inside its port directory, so /usr/ports/
The downloaded *.tar.gz's are placed in /usr/ports/distfiles/.

FreeBSD sources are installed to /usr/src/

N.B. One can set WRKDIRPREFIX=</path/to/dir> in /etc/make.conf if you wish to build ports elsewhere, ie NFS ro mounts as an example.
 
JoshuaBranson said:
How big should I make my /var/tmp?
[snip]
Does FreeBSD install source into /var/tmp?
Click to expand...
FreeBSD kernel source code goes in /usr/src/sys.
Ports (distfiles plus build directories) go in /usr/ports.
Packages unpack in /var/tmp but normally get removed afterwards.
The only other thing I can think of right now that uses /var/tmp is editors/vim, for its recovery files.

I don't usually make /var/tmp a seperate filesystem because my /var is large enough already. You could also remove /var/tmp and (re)symlink it to /tmp if you like - and if /tmp is large enough of course.

Because /var/tmp is mostly used for package unpacking, I'd say that 500 MB ought to be enough, you can probably even do with less. Having said that, I wouldn't make /var/tmp a seperate partition in the first place.

I do tend to make seperate partitions for /usr/src though. The FreeBSD kernel source code is around 150-200 MB [Edit: actually, that's all source, not just the kernel - my bad, sorry] but you'll also need space for the actual build (object files and stuff), so I'd say reserve at least 500 MB for that.

Hope this helps,

Fonz
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top