[GRASS-dev] Questions about GRASS temp directory

In the init.sh a temp directory is set up using the form
<tempdir>/grass6-<user>-<pid> and then the GISRC is copied into this
directory.

I don't see anywhere in the script where tmp is exported except
perhaps as part of the path to $tmp/GISRC. How do other grass programs
find this directory? Maybe nothing else uses it?

Anyway, does it matter if I change the name from grass6-user-pid
convention to grass6-random-number? It turns out that I can't find a
cross-platform way to get the user name in Python. Go figure.

Any suggestions?

--
David Finlayson

David Finlayson wrote:

In the init.sh a temp directory is set up using the form
<tempdir>/grass6-<user>-<pid> and then the GISRC is copied into this
directory.

I don't see anywhere in the script where tmp is exported except
perhaps as part of the path to $tmp/GISRC. How do other grass programs
find this directory? Maybe nothing else uses it?

"tmp" isn't exported, although GISRC is.

Anyway, does it matter if I change the name from grass6-user-pid
convention to grass6-random-number? It turns out that I can't find a
cross-platform way to get the user name in Python. Go figure.

A random number doesn't guarantee uniqueness; you at least need to use
the PID. You shouldn't have to worry about access by multiple hosts
via NFS, as NFS clients invariably have their own /tmp filesystem.

--
Glynn Clements <glynn@gclements.plus.com>