[GRASS-dev] [GRASS GIS] #3635: Suspicious use and cleanup of the mapset tempoary directory

[GRASS GIS]

#3635: Suspicious use and cleanup of the mapset tempoary directory
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------------
 Reporter:  wenzeslaus                           |      Owner:  grass-dev@…
     Type:  defect                               |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal                               |  Milestone:  7.6.0
Component:  Startup                              |    Version:  svn-trunk
 Keywords:  init grass.py clean_temp .tmp temp   |        CPU:  Unspecified
  g.mapset wxGUI rendering                       |
 Platform:  All                                  |
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------------
 Similarly to wrong lockfile being removed in #3631, `grass.py` seems to
 clean and remove temporary directory associated with a mapset (during one
 startup procedure and during shutdown). However, when mapset is switched
 during the session, the clean up still happens in the initial mapset.

 The clean up seems to be introduced in r54467 (before 7.0). Note that
 ''location'' here means ''full path to the mapset'' and the variable is
 not changed after initialization to the "start time" mapset. At the same
 time `$GISBASE/etc/clean_temp` is being called. Why `clean_temp` is not
 sufficient?

 A reason I can see is that there seems to be a problem with GUI which
 continues to use the old mapset even after the switch for rendering (PPM
 and vector legend). The comment in `grass.py` indeed says "remove GUI
 session files from .tmp". Shouldn't it use the system temporary directory
 or always get the current mapset?

 Consequently, after turning of GRASS GIS, the initial mapset's `.tmp` is
 removed completely while the current mapset's `.tmp` is cleaned in a
 sophisticated way using `clean_temp`. Then I would say the GUI needs to
 make sure to use the current mapset or not use mapset's temporary
 directory at all and that `grass.py` should only do cleaning using
 `clean_temp`. Does this make sense or am I missing something?

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://trac.osgeo.org/grass/ticket/3635>
GRASS GIS <https://grass.osgeo.org>