A Short Script to Clean Your /tmp

[Dougal]

As I mentioned in another thread, in Puppy2.00 and 2.0.1 the there are hidden files that don't get deleted from /tmp, don't show in rox and don't get counted when free-space is checked -- thus your pup_save gets filled without you knowing it.

A few days after cleaning it, I checked the /tmp folder again and there were already quite a lot of files there.
Here's what to do to check and clean in (the script is at the end):

- Boot into ram (there are files in /tmp that I don't think should be deleted while running...).
- Mount (with pmount or mut) the partition (hda4 in my case) containing the pup_save file.
- Manually mount the pup_save file:

Code: Select all

mount -o loop /mnt/hda4/pup_save.3fs /mnt/data

(as you can see I'm mounting it on /mnt/data -- completely arbitrary)
- now move into the /tmp folder (cd /mnt/data/tmp) and try deleting hidden files:

Code: Select all

rm -f .*

(notice the dot before the asterisk)(if you're afraid of deleting, you can use "ls", to try and list the hidden files)
- If you've got many hidden files there, you'll get an error message:

Code: Select all

rm : argument list too long

In such a case you can copy the text below into a script -- say, /root/clean.sh -- and run it

Code: Select all

./clean.sh

(You'll need to modify the FOLDER parameter at the top if you mounted somewhere else than /mnt/data)

The script:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash
FOLDER=/mnt/data/tmp

search_and_delete()
{
for SYM in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 _ - . a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
do
rm -rf "$1""$SYM"*

if [ $? != "0" ];then
	NAME="$1""$SYM" 
	echo "checking "$NAME"*"
        search_and_delete "$NAME"
fi

done
}

cd $FOLDER
NAME="."
search_and_delete $NAME
exit

[Dougal]

I mistyped something. Fixed it now in the message above.

[jeffrey]

That looks dangerous to me.
Don't recommend "rm -f .*" because someone might type "rm -rf .*" and that would include .. which is the parent directory. Much safer to use the explicit "rm -f /tmp/*" or at least "rm -f .??*" (to avoid including "..").
Your script may attempt an "rm -rf .." which will clean up more than your /tmp directory!
Also if your cd fails but doesn't stop the script the "rm -rf" is again dangrous.
A better, safer, simpler solution (replacing the whole of your script) would be:

Code: Select all

find /mnt/data/tmp -type f -print | xargs rm -f

[Dougal]

That looks dangerous to me.
Don't recommend "rm -f .*" because someone might type "rm -rf .*" and that would include .. which is the parent directory. Much safer to use the explicit "rm -f /tmp/*" or at least "rm -f .??*" (to avoid including "..").
Your script may attempt an "rm -rf .." which will clean up more than your /tmp directory!
Also if your cd fails but doesn't stop the script the "rm -rf" is again dangrous.
A better, safer, simpler solution (replacing the whole of your script) would be:

Code: Select all

find /mnt/data/tmp -type f -print | xargs rm -f

1) I suggested that if people are afraid they use "ls"
2) I actually used "rm -rf" and nothing happened
3) If you try running the script you'll see at the begining you get warnings about not being able to delete "." and ".."

[BarryK]

Note that this will be fixed for 2.02. At least, I intend to.
I am planning to delete /tmp/ from initrd script at bootup, rather than at
shutdown due to unionfs issues.

[Dougal]

Note that this will be fixed for 2.02. At least, I intend to.
I am planning to delete /tmp/ from initrd script at bootup, rather than at
shutdown due to unionfs issues.

I was thinking it might be easiest to do at bootup -- delete and then remake it.
The files clogging it are actually unionfs files, as far as I can tell.