Using the example from the article, extracting an archive. Surely that use case is entity not possible using in-memory? What happens if you're dealing with a not-unreasonable 100gb archive?
Who runs around with 100gb+ of swap?!
replies(2):
Who runs around with 100gb+ of swap?!
Our default server images come with a 4.4GB /tmp partition...
My /tmp is my default folder for downloads and temporary work. It will grow 100GB+ easily.
>Programs must not assume that any files or directories in /tmp are preserved between invocations of the program.
>Although data stored in /tmp may be deleted in a site-specific manner, it is recommended that files and directories located in /tmp be deleted whenever the system is booted.
https://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/FHS_3.0/fhs/ch03s18.htm...
Now you can obviously use your Filesystem whichever way you like, but I would say Debian shouldn't have to take into consideration uses which are outside the general recommendations/specs.
The person you're replying to is saying that tmp is meant for temporary storage that could disappear between reboots. A permanent archive of the past states of the tmp directory is not temporary.
> A permanent archive of the past states of the tmp directory is not temporary.
From the perspective of a program it's still volatile, since the files don't stay in their original place.