[Texmacs-dev] Placement of temporary files (was: Privacy considerations)

[Norbert Nemec]

Am Mittwoch, 10. September 2003 18:18 schrieben Sie:
> Now I agree more or less with what you say below.
> However, I don't know of any safe Unix command which
> creates temporary file names for me.

It is true: about every second security alert on Unix is about unsafe creation 
of temporaries. I don't really know, what the correct procedure for that 
would be. Many programs create a subdirectory like /tmp/PROGRAM-USER-PID/, 
make it unaccessible to anyone but the calling user and then do whatever they 
like within it.

I'm not an expert on security matters in that respect, so it would probably be 
safest to consult some documentation about it.

> Notice nevertheless that you may make ~/.TeXmacs/system/tmp
> a symbolic link to whatever safe directory you want...

Of course, that is an option for those who care about that detail. Anyway: As 
someone who uses douzens of different programs, I don't really like the idea 
of having to hand-configure them individually for something I'd see as 
standard behaviour.

> There are a few circumstances where people may want to
> inspect their temporary files though. For instance,
> when compiling a bibliography and something goes wrong,
> then the current solution allows us to inspect
> the temporary files...

That's fairly independant of the question where the files are located.

> On Thu, 17 Apr 2003, Norbert Nemec wrote:
> > > Nevertheless, temporary files are mostly used for not-so-important
> > > data, like the conversion of images. Also, we soon plan to put all
> > > temporary files in ~/.TeXmacs/system.
> >
> > I think that is not such a good idea. /tmp is there just for that
> > purpose, so why not use it? (independantly of my own paranoid security
> > demands)
> >
> > The home directory is good for everything that should last. Anyhow, there
> > may be strict quota, or it may only be accessible via a slow NFS
> > connection. Therefore the local /tmp directory usually is the better
> > place.
> >
> > > As to printing: we create a .ps files in
> > > ~/.TeXmacs/system and print it using the lpr or a user-defined command.
> >
> > Same thing as above: /tmp would clearly be the better place for that IMO.
> > (Of course, if a user wants to export the .ps, it should not go to /tmp
> > as default, but that is a different matter than a temporary .ps file used
> > for printing only.

-- 
______________________Norbert Nemec <address@hidden>

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