How can I get large amounts of temporary (scratch) space?
Every Unix system has two file systems intended for temporary use: /tmp and /var/tmp. On most systems, the first of these is lost when the system reboots (on Solaris systems, it resides in memory, and is swapped to the virtual memory paging disk when needed). The second survives reboots, and is therefore the preferred location for files that are needed in more than a single process. These two directories are writable by any user, but users cannot remove or write files owned by others. The recommended procedure for single-process files is to use the mktemp() system call, or the mktemp utility, to create a private subdirectory and in it, create a file with a random unpredictable name. For files needed for longer periods, the best approach is to create a private directory, preferably named by your login name, in /var/tmp, optionally set its permissions to allow, or forbid, access by others, and then create files within it. You should also use this approach if your home directory is (tempo
