lix/doc/manual/rl-next/temp-dir.md
Lily Ballard 3c8096e5cb feat: Add temp-dir setting
This adds a new temp-dir setting for controlling the temporary directory
without having to change the TMPDIR env var. This can be used to e.g.
use a path on a case-sensitive store on macOS for temporary files
without changing the TMPDIR var used by interactive shells or commands
invoked with `nix run`.

This also stops unsetting `TMPDIR` on darwin when the env var value
starts with `/var/folders/`, preferring instead to just do the check
when reading `TMPDIR`. This way the inherited `TMPDIR` env var is
preserved for child processes (such as interactive shells).

As a side effect this changes the behavior of `nix-build -o ''` to act
like `nix-build --no-out-link` instead of failing with an error caused
by trying to create a symlink at the cwd.

Fixes: #253
Fixes: #112
Change-Id: I9ee826323f2deca62854715a77ca7a373a948a29
2024-11-06 18:11:47 -08:00

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Markdown

---
synopsis: Add a `temp-dir` setting to set the temporary directory location
issues: [7731, 8995, fj#112, fj#253]
cls: [2103]
category: Improvements
credits: lilyball
---
[`temp-dir`](@docroot@/command-ref/conf-file.md#conf-temp-dir) can now be set in the Nix
configuration to change the temporary directory. This can be used to relocate all temporary files
to another filesystem without affecting the `TMPDIR` env var inherited by interactive
`nix-shell`/`nix shell` shells or `nix run` commands.
Also on macOS, the `TMPDIR` env var is no longer unset for interactive shells when pointing
to a per-session `/var/folders/` directory.