From owner-freebsd-questions Wed Sep 18 11:33:22 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.FreeBSD.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3691E37B401 for ; Wed, 18 Sep 2002 11:33:21 -0700 (PDT) Received: from pop017.verizon.net (pop017pub.verizon.net [206.46.170.210]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 29E9843E6A for ; Wed, 18 Sep 2002 11:33:20 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from j.bol@gte.net) Received: from ath ([24.96.36.23]) by pop017.verizon.net (InterMail vM.5.01.05.09 201-253-122-126-109-20020611) with ESMTP id <20020918183319.GDSL22486.pop017.verizon.net@ath>; Wed, 18 Sep 2002 13:33:19 -0500 From: "John Bolster" To: "Matthew Seaman" Cc: "Freebsd-Questions@Freebsd. Org" Subject: RE: mailchk.026233 Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 14:33:47 -0400 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2911.0) Importance: Normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4807.1700 In-Reply-To: <20020918125715.GB82815@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophi> X-Authentication-Info: Submitted using SMTP AUTH LOGIN at pop017.verizon.net from [24.96.36.23] using ID at Wed, 18 Sep 2002 13:33:19 -0500 Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG Thank you for the advice. John Bolster > -----Original Message----- > From: Matthew Seaman [mailto:m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk] > Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 8:57 AM > To: John Bolster > Cc: Freebsd-Questions@Freebsd. Org > Subject: Re: mailchk.026233 > > > On Tue, Sep 17, 2002 at 05:22:39PM -0400, John Bolster wrote: > > > I've found hundreds of files with names like mailchk.xxxxxx in my /tmp > > directory. This is FreeBSD 4.1 RELEASE, the server runs the UW > IMAP server > > and Squirrelmail. Does anyone know if these files can be safely deleted? > > > > Also, in /var/tmp there are hundreds of phpxxxxxx files. Same question. > > The answer is "probably yes". Those files are temporary storage used > by various programs to cache some data in, and maybe hand it over to > some other process for dealing with. The program will typically use > each one once and then open up a new file the next time it needs that > sort of thing. (Hence the numbers to ensure unique temporary file > names). Well behaved programs will delete the files once they've > finished using them. Cunning programs will use the mkstemp(3) call to > get a unique filename and open the file in one fell swoop. Really > cunning programs will do that, and unlink the files *before* they've > used them, just keeping the open file descriptor to access their > temporary space. > > Use the fstat(1) command to see if any processes have the files open. > If not, try deleting some of them. If there are no howls of protest > from your user base, I'd say you're probably OK to clean out those > directories. > > Cheers, > > Matthew > > > -- > Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 26 The Paddocks > Savill Way > Marlow > Tel: +44 1628 476614 Bucks., SL7 1TH UK To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message