Store cache files in /tmp or /home/USER/tmp

Question

We generate cache files for combined site assets such as javascript and css. We currently store these files in /tmp but with everything else in there it is making the cleanup routines awkward to setup. Are we safe to switch to using /home/USER/tmp instead? Does this area have an automated cleanup routine that I need to be aware of? I've noticed there are currently files in there for Awstats / webalizer / cpbandwidth.

This is using CentOS btw.

Answer 1

I would say that it's probably better to store the files in /tmp/USER, rather than under the user's home directories. First of all, the permissions on /tmp are generally more accessible, which may come into play if your server config changes in the future, or if you need to write some type of cleanup script. Second, why expose the users to these tmp files? Is there any reason that they would need to modify them directly?

If not, better to keep them out of sight -- which is the purpose of the /tmp directory.

Answer 2

Unless you set your own clean up script for /home/USER/tmp, there is nothing, that I know of, setup as a default for that directory on CentOS. You might want to ask your host, as they might have done custom configurations that might apply to you (having Awstats/webalizer, etc files on /home/USER/tmp is not the norm).