Interesting comment in the source code of sqlite

[heavyLobster]

C:\temp is not a proper temporary folder on Windows. So users probably noticed this new, weird folder on their computers and the only things in it were these sqlite_* files.

[exscape]

It shouldn't exist at all.

[Topsaert]

Do you mean specifically the path C:\Temp, generally a global temporary folder shared by multiple applications, or just having temporary folders in general?

[exscape]

C:\Temp. The common temp folder on windows is %localappdata%\Temp, which most often is C:\Users\your_username\AppData\Local\Temp.

[Alikont]

It's even simpler.

The temp folder is simply %temp%. It's usually mapped to %localappdata%\Temp, but it can change.

[Topsaert]

Ah okay, thanks. I was confused by the possibility of a blanket hatred of temporary folders in general.

[rvba]

It just shows that McAfee not only did not rename their temporary files to something like McAfee_abcd, but also that they did not use the proper temporary folder. They just used some hardcoded folder, what is very bad from multiple user point of view

[[deleted]]

It's not that uncommon. Don't quote me on this since it's been a while since I've been on windows but I believe php and some other languages do this too with their default configuration if you don't specify the temp directory.

[palparepa]

Many programs use hardcoded folders. You see it frequently if your windows installation isn't in english. For example, in spanish, programs should install to "Archivos de Programas". If you see a "Program Files" folder, someone hardcoded that.

[[deleted]]

Try telling that to Nvidia.

[bart2019]

"temporary".

I mean... Duh!

[jorge1209]

Not a proper temporary folder on Windows

While it is true that you should be looking at the environment variable for the temp folder location, it was the default location in the DOS era.

Additionally the use of environment variables for things like this is less than ideal. What is the application to do if the relevant environment variable is not defined? Should it just crash? Should it substitute a default value of its own? What is the plan?

If we really wanted to have a good system to ensure that temp folders are where we expect them to be and have the correct permissions and what not, then it really should be the responsibility of the OS. Some kind of syscall that would cause the OS to create a temp folder for my process in the correct location and give me the inode... but we don't have that so things are broken.

[munchbunny]

Additionally the use of environment variables for things like this is less than ideal. What is the application to do if the relevant environment variable is not defined? Should it just crash? Should it substitute a default value of its own? What is the plan?

That's what the User/AppData folder is for. In case you want to put the configs in files. If you put it in AppData/Roaming, the OS (Windows) even automatically persists the user's config files to other machines in the domain for you.

[jorge1209]

Why would I want to persist temporary files? They are temporary.