[mapserver-dev] RFC 66 - Better handling of temporary files

[Stephen Woodbridge]

In general I like the idea of having options to control things like 
this. I also like the default behavior to just do the right thing 
whatever that is so most users do not need to worry themselves over it.

I think we have discussed this in the past, but it makes a lot of sense 
so new users do not have to worry about all these things to get 
something up and running. It is kind of like having and expert tab that 
allows you to change parameters that most people never need to change.

On some sites that have a need to configure these things for ultra high 
end performance that need the ability to customize the configuration, 
you need access to these things. Another potential use would be 
configuring a bootable DVD to run mapserver, then you might want to 
configure the temp files to be at a specific location. Anyway, I see 
these as needed exceptions to the normal operations.

We might also want to consider flagging these options in the 
documentation "Expert Only" features with an appropriate explanation of 
what we mean by that.

I think we need to keep in mind the "Out of the Box" experience and at 
the same time not cut off our noses to spite our face.

My 2cts,
   -Steve

On 1/14/2011 4:42 PM, thomas bonfort wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 14, 2011 at 22:23, Frank Warmerdam<warmerdam at pobox.com>  wrote:
>> On 11-01-14 07:46 AM, thomas bonfort wrote:
>>>
>>> Jeff,
>>> I don't like TEMPPATH because it should not be necessary for a user to
>>> have to configure it. On unix, there is a system function that will
>>> guarantee to create you a temp file without having to make the
>>> assumption it will be in /tmp, and I imagine it could be possible to
>>> implement something similar for windows if it doesn't exist.
>>> Let's not burden our users with setting a configuration variable for
>>> something that is system related and should be taken care of
>>> transparently.
>>
>> Thomas,
>>
>> I like the idea of being able to control where my MapServer temp
>> files are created - either so I can keep them separate from system
>> temporary files, or so I can control what drive they are on (ie.
>> ram drive, extra physical drive).  But it might be nice if the
>> *fallback* when it isn't set is to do the normal system behavior.
>>
>
> Frank,
> as a developer, I agree that knowing where the temp file is created so
> you can inspect what is going on is a definitive plus. As a user, I
> don't see the point, and would especially not want to have to
> configure it.
> I'm +1 for a default system call if TEMPPATH is not specified and use
> whatever defined value if the user has gone to the trouble of
> specifying it, and against having a log message
> be output if TEMPPATH is not set.
> My initial concern is that we seem to be reinventing the wheel in
> regards to tempfile creation, whereas there are secure and tested
> solutions with mkstemp that we should at least investigate before
> rolling out our own.
>
> best regards,
> thomas
>
> ps. I hope the tone is not harsh or condescending, its not my aim in any way.
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