[GLLUG] Sharing /tmp Among Distros

[C. Ulrich]

Chick Tower wrote:
> I intend to install Mandrake Linux and Vector Linux (based on 
> Slackware) on the same desktop machine.  I expect to be the only user 
> (aside from when I choose to log on as root), but, regardless, only 
> one distro will be running at one time.  Does anyone know if it would 
> be reasonable to use the same /tmp directory for both distros?  Does 
> anyone know of any good reasons not to do this?  
> 
>                     Chick

I *think* any problems arising from the sharing of /tmp are unlikely since
anything being written to /tmp is supposed to be just that: temporary. (I have
often wondered why most/all distros don't have a line in the init scripts that
cleans out /tmp during either each startup or shutdown.) However, /tmp is
normally only (supposed) to be used for pipes, links, or very small files and
thus it usually doesn't get too large during normal use. You'd be going to
quite a bit of trouble just to save a couple of megs. I assume you're already
planning to use the same swap partition for both?

--Charles Ulrich
-- 
http://bityard.net