[mapserver-users] Temporary image files

[Frank Broniewski]

Hi List

I am just setting up a web server for use with mapserver. Targeted use will be 
php-mapscript and wms map serving.

I was just looking through my mapfiles in order to find file system based 
configurations like shapepath, imagepath etc. 

Stumbling over imagepath and imageurl parameters, I was wondering for what 
reason mapserver stores the images in the temporary folder before serving 
them to the user. When querying mapserver as a wms, there are no temporary 
files, so this does not seem to be a necessary step to provide a map image to 
the user.
Does mapserver reuse these images? Or is the temporary files approach a remain 
from more static web map pages where the image could be reused more often?

Coming to my next question, I presume that my php code causes the storage of 
the image - $mapimageurl = $mapimage->saveWebImage();
Is it possible to deliver the image directly to the browser instead of passing 
an URI?