[Bug 1533639] Re: [ubuntu-cpc] please make /tmp a tmpfs in RAM

[Dustin Kirkland ]

** Description changed:

- In Ubuntu, we clear /tmp on every boot.
+ In Ubuntu, we have always cleared /tmp on every boot.
  
  As such, on servers, by default /tmp should actually be a tmpfs entirely
  in RAM, when there is enough memory in the system.  This threshold
  should be configurable by the end user (in cloud-init?), and default
  threshold of ~2GB.
+ 
+ Read about tmpfs here:
+ https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/filesystems/tmpfs.txt
  
  This has several advantages, mainly:
   * Performance - much faster read/write access to data in /tmp
   * Security - sensitive data would be cleared from memory on boot, rather than written (leaked) to disk -- important for encryption scenarios
   * Power consumption - storing information in memory is more energy efficient than reading and writing to disk
  
  In scenarios where more space in /tmp is needed than available, one can
  compliment that tmpfs with 'sudo apt-get install swapspace' which will
  dynamically create/delete swapfile as necessary.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1533639

Title:
  [ubuntu-cpc] please make /tmp a tmpfs in RAM

Status in livecd-rootfs package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  In Ubuntu, we have always cleared /tmp on every boot.

  As such, on servers, by default /tmp should actually be a tmpfs
  entirely in RAM, when there is enough memory in the system.  This
  threshold should be configurable by the end user (in cloud-init?), and
  default threshold of ~2GB.

  Read about tmpfs here:
  https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/filesystems/tmpfs.txt

  This has several advantages, mainly:
   * Performance - much faster read/write access to data in /tmp
   * Security - sensitive data would be cleared from memory on boot, rather than written (leaked) to disk -- important for encryption scenarios
   * Power consumption - storing information in memory is more energy efficient than reading and writing to disk

  In scenarios where more space in /tmp is needed than available, one
  can compliment that tmpfs with 'sudo apt-get install swapspace' which
  will dynamically create/delete swapfile as necessary.

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