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You can invoke mktemp(1) in ways that work across most contemporary systems. At least if you don't care that the resulting names are going to look a bit weird (

by slrz 7y ago

You can invoke mktemp(1) in ways that work across most contemporary systems. At least if you don't care that the resulting names are going to look a bit weird (have lots of XXXXXX in them due to name prefix vs. template differences among implementations).

arendtio 7y ago
Actually, I am not sure if that is true. I have no example at hand (I could look it up, if you are interested), but a few months ago I was trying hard to create a folder with mktemp using the same command for Linux, MacOS and Android, and as far as I remember, that wasn't as easy as it is supposed to be.
- slrz 7y ago
  Shouldn't mktemp -d -t name.XXXXXX do it? Possibly in combination with setting TMPDIR if you want to create the directory somewhere else than within the default temp directory. Works with GNU mktemp, the old BSD variant on macOS and also Busybox. Current Android uses Toybox, I think? Its mktemp implementation looks like it takes the same flags as Busybox mktemp. https://landley.net/toybox/help.html#mktemp https://landley.net/toybox/help.html#mktemp
  - arendtio 7y ago
    Well, at least on my Android 7.1.2 (toybox --version 0.7.1-3125af0e06f4-android) mktemp doesn't recognize the -t option (https://github.com/landley/toybox/blob/0.7.1/toys/lsb/mktemp.c https://github.com/landley/toybox/blob/0.7.1/toys/lsb/mktemp...). So it seems to be fixed in newer versions, but I am sure there will be some installations with the old versions around for a while. Instead, I could use --tmpdir, but somehow that one seems to be buggy: $ mktemp -d --tmpdir name.XXXXXX mktemp: Failed to create directory name.XXXXXX/name.XXXXXX/tmp.sL2WbI: No such file or directory The macOS version, on the other hand, does work with those options, but it creates a file like name.XXXXXX.veCNnwkX (instead of name.veCNnwkX) so not a deal-breaker, but it is certainly not what you would have expected. And using --tmpdir with macOS doesn't work either. So yes, in theory, it shouldn't be too hard but sadly, the reality is often buggy and outdated :-/

by slrz 7y ago

arendtio 7y ago

Actually, I am not sure if that is true. I have no example at hand (I could look it up, if you are interested), but a few months ago I was trying hard to create a folder with mktemp using the same command for Linux, MacOS and Android, and as far as I remember, that wasn't as easy as it is supposed to be.

slrz 7y ago
Shouldn't mktemp -d -t name.XXXXXX do it? Possibly in combination with setting TMPDIR if you want to create the directory somewhere else than within the default temp directory. Works with GNU mktemp, the old BSD variant on macOS and also Busybox. Current Android uses Toybox, I think? Its mktemp implementation looks like it takes the same flags as Busybox mktemp. https://landley.net/toybox/help.html#mktemp https://landley.net/toybox/help.html#mktemp
- arendtio 7y ago
  Well, at least on my Android 7.1.2 (toybox --version 0.7.1-3125af0e06f4-android) mktemp doesn't recognize the -t option (https://github.com/landley/toybox/blob/0.7.1/toys/lsb/mktemp.c https://github.com/landley/toybox/blob/0.7.1/toys/lsb/mktemp...). So it seems to be fixed in newer versions, but I am sure there will be some installations with the old versions around for a while. Instead, I could use --tmpdir, but somehow that one seems to be buggy: $ mktemp -d --tmpdir name.XXXXXX mktemp: Failed to create directory name.XXXXXX/name.XXXXXX/tmp.sL2WbI: No such file or directory The macOS version, on the other hand, does work with those options, but it creates a file like name.XXXXXX.veCNnwkX (instead of name.veCNnwkX) so not a deal-breaker, but it is certainly not what you would have expected. And using --tmpdir with macOS doesn't work either. So yes, in theory, it shouldn't be too hard but sadly, the reality is often buggy and outdated :-/