[Bug 2088268] Re: systemd /tmp cleaning removes files that it shouldn't

[Marc Deslauriers]

So, before systemd-tmpfiles was used, Ubuntu used tmpreaper to perform
periodic cleaning of the /tmp dir. tmpreaper had a list of exceptions:

--protect '/tmp/.X*-{lock,unix,unix/*}' \
--protect '/tmp/.ICE-{unix,unix/*}' \
--protect '/tmp/.iroha_{unix,unix/*}' \
--protect '/tmp/.ki2-{unix,unix/*}' \
--protect '/tmp/lost+found' \
--protect '/tmp/journal.dat' \
--protect '/tmp/quota.{user,group}' \

Looking at the /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d directory, it looks like only a few
files are excluded by the automatic deleting, for example the ones
listed in systemd-tmp.conf.

Disabling automatic cleaning isn't a viable solution, as that would
reintroduce issues with long-running systems.

So, the best way to tackle this issue IMHO would be for each affected
package to ship a configuration file in /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d that list
files that shouldn't be deleted.

Please add to this bug the packages that are affected by automatic
cleaning.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2088268

Title:
  systemd /tmp cleaning removes files that it shouldn't

Status in systemd package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in xorg package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  On Ubuntu 24.04.1, systemd 255.4-1ubuntu8.4, the fix for bug #2019026
  causes files under /tmp to be removed if their age is greater than 30
  days. However, there are files under /tmp that should not be removed
  at runtime regardless of their age (whether they belong in that
  directory at all is a separate question), for example those listed in
  /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/x11.conf (I have witnessed the disappearance of
  X11 lock files, though the sockets are still there; /tmp/.XIM-unix and
  /tmp/.font-unix have also disappeared).

  I am not familiar enough with systemd-tmpfiles to figure out whether
  those files can be properly protected from removal with a tmpfiles.d
  configuration change, but I do know that the current configuration
  does not do that.

  I noticed this problem when a couple of TigerVNC sessions became
  inaccessible a month after starting them, which turned out to be
  because the "cached" password file in /tmp/tigervnc.XXXXXX/passwd was
  removed. This is at least partially a bug in tigervnc, but the problem
  also affects other critical not-to-be-removed-or-else files under
  /tmp.

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