Ubuntu
util-linux package

problems with /tmp overflow

Asked by bill purvis on 2008-05-28

I've recently upgraded to Hardy, followed today by an update to kernel, modules etc.
As a result my / parition got full. This was spotted when gcc reported 'no space on device'
while writing a temporary file.
I then discovered that there were several earlier kernels (and modules etc.) from
gutsy and feisty still around. Deleting these has cleared plenty of space in /
but it now appears that /tmp is mounter on 'overflow' and has a 1Meg limit.
As a result, my compilations are still failing. Any way of getting /tmp back into
the root partition without a reboot?

Many thanks

Bill

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu util-linux Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
nglnx
Solved:
2008-05-29
Last query:
2008-05-29
Last reply:
2008-05-29
marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said : #1

Have you already rebooted your pc...?

Usually /tmp is under the "/" root filesystem, so please tell more about your issue...

Please also open a Terminal from the menu Applications->Accessories->Terminal and type:

sudo apt-get clean all

give your user password when requested, you don't see nothing when you type it, then press enter.

Thank you

bill purvis (bill-billp) said : #2

No, I've not (yet) rebooted. I've managed to get around the immediate problem by
setting TMPDIR=/var/tmp which is on a partition with lots of space.

My /tmp was under "/" until this happened. I Presume the system needed some space
in /tmp and mounted it on "overflow" which I assume is a RAM filesystem.

I'm an old-fashioned guy and always work in terminals for most things.
I've deleted a lot of the bigger bits and made plenty of free space in "/" but
/tmp seems reluctant to revert. I guess a reboot is the only way out....

bill purvis (bill-billp) said : #3

Rebooted, and /tmp is back under "/".
Can anyone tell me what was going on and how to deal with it in future?

Best nglnx (nglnx) said : #4

The script responsible for mounting your /tmp as overflow is run at boot time (it is located in /etc/init.d/mountoverflowtmp). It runs a check to see if there is a minimum acceptable space on /tmp and if there is not, it mounts it overflow. It also checks for unneeded overflow tmpfs for /tmp and removes them if that is appropriate. That is why after you freed some disk space and rebooted everything went back to normal.

bill purvis (bill-billp) said : #5

Thanks nglnx, that solved my question.

Luca Greco (luca-greco) said : #6

If you need more space in /tmp without a reboot and overflow tmpfs is already mounted, you can (with some risks) bind another directory on that mount point:

sudo mount -o bind /var/tmp /tmp

this workaround can be useful with applications that don't evaluate TMPDIR.

cube (cube) said : #7

You could just

umount overflow

which would make /tmp point to the tmp directory on your root partition.

You need to restart X (if you're using it), but other than that, everything seems to work alright, /tmp is getting populated pretty normally.

pramod (pramod974) said : #8

Thank you very much Luca Greco.

This solved my problem and it was very much important indeed... thanks a ton !