Activity log for bug #1415974

Date Who What changed Old value New value Message
2015-01-29 15:55:41 Ken Sharp bug added bug
2015-01-29 16:15:46 Ken Sharp summary Cleaning a directory in /tmp during boot updates the folder's modification time Cleaning a directory in /tmp during boot updates the directory's modification time
2015-02-13 03:12:29 Ken Sharp tags apport-bug i386 precise amd64 apport-bug i386 precise trusty
2015-04-14 15:45:31 Ken Sharp description When set to anything other than 0 (clean all of /tmp), /tmp is cleaned of "old" files, but in doing so it updates the modification times of all the directories, so that they remain until they themselves become "old". I hope this makes sense, an example: During boot files in /tmp older than three days will be cleaned. Files in /tmp/olddir will be cleaned. /tmp/olddir will have its modification time updated, it is no longer an old directory. /tmp/olddir is left behind because it is not recognised as an old directory. It's minor and may be impossible to fix, but is there any magic that can be done to remove the old directories at boot rather than waiting for the directory to "expire" again? Is it possible to avoid the modification time being updated? Simply removing the whole directory based on its creation or modification times, without first checking its contents for newer files, would probably not be preferable. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04 Package: initscripts 2.88dsf-13.10ubuntu11.1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-26.45~precise1-generic 3.11.10.12 Uname: Linux 3.11.0-26-generic i686 NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.8 Architecture: i386 Date: Thu Jan 29 15:13:27 2015 MarkForUpload: True ProcEnviron: LANGUAGE=en_GB:en TERM=xterm PATH=(custom, no user) LANG=en_GB.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash SourcePackage: sysvinit UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2014-12-07 (53 days ago) When TMPTIME is set to anything other than 0 (clean all of /tmp) in /etc/default/rcS, /tmp is cleaned of "old" files, but in doing so it updates the modification times of all the directories, so that they remain until they themselves become "old". I hope this makes sense, an example: During boot files in /tmp older than three days will be cleaned. Files in /tmp/olddir will be cleaned. /tmp/olddir will have its modification time updated, it is no longer an old directory. /tmp/olddir is left behind because it is not recognised as an old directory. It's minor and may be impossible to fix, but is there any magic that can be done to remove the old directories at boot rather than waiting for the directory to "expire" again? Is it possible to avoid the modification time being updated? Simply removing the whole directory based on its creation or modification times, without first checking its contents for newer files, would probably not be preferable. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04 Package: initscripts 2.88dsf-13.10ubuntu11.1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-26.45~precise1-generic 3.11.10.12 Uname: Linux 3.11.0-26-generic i686 NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.8 Architecture: i386 Date: Thu Jan 29 15:13:27 2015 MarkForUpload: True ProcEnviron:  LANGUAGE=en_GB:en  TERM=xterm  PATH=(custom, no user)  LANG=en_GB.UTF-8  SHELL=/bin/bash SourcePackage: sysvinit UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2014-12-07 (53 days ago)
2015-04-14 15:53:49 Ken Sharp affects sysvinit (Ubuntu) mountall (Ubuntu)