Subject: [netatalk-admins] atalkd temp file, and RO partitions

From: chuck <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 13 Nov 1999 17:05:13 -0800

Have just ignored this forever, but setting up a new server
and recall it.  Using the FreeBSD netatalk+asun port.  Have
been using netatalk on a SunOS box since '96/97.  No problems
to speak of.

netatalk binaries are all stored under /usr/local/.  atalkd
WANTS, desparately to create a temp file.  I'm not entirely
sure why.  I do know that, in a 44BSD architecture - or any
Unix, there are better places to do this in (default?)
/usr/local/etc/.  Apple does this sort of thing, Unix
understands that data does not live with binaries.  and etc/
directories are for config files, not for (ever mount photoshop
and other apps in readonly partitions?)

I've redefined it to /var/run (which is writeable only by root),
and non-44bsd folks could put it into some other area, what is
the RIGHT answer.

So while I can redefine PATH_ATALKDTMP in include/atalk/paths.h
(which SHOULD have an ifdef so I can override it from the
Makefile), what does it do?

Oh yeah, note that at least OpenBSD (and likely others) can run
just fine with a read-only ROOT partition.  Only count on /var
to be writeable (ok, data partitions to, but who knows where they
are).  So temporary writes go under /var/ only.

chuck