Blender on Linux saves autosave and session files to /tmp, resulting in data loss on a system crash #93843

New Issue

Blender User · 2021-12-08T01:19:23+01:00

Blender User commented

2021-12-08 01:19:23 +01:00

System Information
$ cat /etc/os-release
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="19.04 (Disco Dingo)"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 19.04"
VERSION_ID="19.04"
HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"
VERSION_CODENAME=disco
UBUNTU_CODENAME=disco

$ uname -r
5.1.15-surface-linux-surface

Also occurs on Debian Stable and Testing, and Devuan Stable and Testing

Blender Version
2.93.5

Short description of error
Blender on Linux saves autosave files and session restore files to /tmp, which is a temporary filesystem whose persistence cannot be relied upon. In the event of a system crash or power outage, a reboot occurs, which very often and unpredictably clears /tmp. This misconfiguration results data loss for Linux users.

Exact steps for others to reproduce the error

Open a Blender file
Do work for long enough that an autosave file is generated
Recreate or simulate a system crash or power outage
Reboot
Open Blender
Attempt to recover the last session or open an autosave file

**System Information** $ cat /etc/os-release NAME="Ubuntu" VERSION="19.04 (Disco Dingo)" ID=ubuntu ID_LIKE=debian PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 19.04" VERSION_ID="19.04" HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/" SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/" BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/" PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy" VERSION_CODENAME=disco UBUNTU_CODENAME=disco $ uname -r 5.1.15-surface-linux-surface Also occurs on Debian Stable and Testing, and Devuan Stable and Testing **Blender Version** 2.93.5 **Short description of error** Blender on Linux saves autosave files and session restore files to /tmp, which is a temporary filesystem whose persistence cannot be relied upon. In the event of a system crash or power outage, a reboot occurs, which very often and unpredictably clears /tmp. This misconfiguration results data loss for Linux users. **Exact steps for others to reproduce the error** 1. Open a Blender file 2. Do work for long enough that an autosave file is generated 3. Recreate or simulate a system crash or power outage 4. Reboot 5. Open Blender 6. Attempt to recover the last session or open an autosave file

Blender User commented

2021-12-08 01:19:23 +01:00

Added subscriber: @User-user

Blender User commented

2021-12-08 01:20:57 +01:00

Please see this thread where other users have lost work due to this bug: https://devtalk.blender.org/t/move-autosave-out-of-tmp/10328/

Harley Acheson commented

2021-12-08 02:35:17 +01:00

Added subscriber: @Harley

Harley Acheson commented

2021-12-08 02:35:17 +01:00

And what is your recommended default location for this?

Blender User commented

2021-12-08 02:38:07 +01:00

Similar programs store the autosave version alongside the normal save

Richard Antalik commented

2021-12-12 22:22:53 +01:00

Added subscriber: @iss

Richard Antalik commented

2021-12-12 22:22:53 +01:00

@Harley do you think this could be confirmed? Personally I think this could be known issue at least.

Harley Acheson commented

2021-12-13 15:26:22 +01:00

@iss - I’m honestly not sure. I don’t use Linux but had hoped that thread could reach a consensus, but could not. I remember this issue coming up multiple times in the past without a clear improved solution that works for everyone that is worth replacing an easily-changed default.

YAFU commented

2021-12-13 16:15:54 +01:00

Added subscriber: @YAFU

YAFU commented

2021-12-13 16:15:54 +01:00

Hi.
I don't think this is a bug, but surely a bad design that we have on Linux.

Having a volatile /tmp folder that is cleaned on every system reboot (because the computer crashed, or power failure, kernel panic, etc) to contain "recovery files" is a bad decision. This is as bad as trying to save someone who is drowning in the sea by throwing a life buoy made of material that melts in water :)p
One thing is clear, the volatile /tmp folder should not be used. The discussion would be which folder should be used then. My vote is for the Linux Trash system, whose user location is "~/.local/share/Trash/files". The problem is that I am not sure that this is the location in all Linux distros, but I suppose that Blender when starting could look for the existing folders and then it would be chosen as the folder for Temporary Files. Linux Trash system has some advantages, an icon/widget is visible on the desktop or panels in most distros, so the user can quickly detect if the folder has content or is empty. In some distros Trash systems have more configuration options, such as the possibility of warning the user if the folder has reached a certain size capacity, or the possibility of configuring file auto cleaning according to their age.

I hope that Blender developers can discuss about this old problem and find a solution.

Hi. I don't think this is a bug, but surely a bad design that we have on Linux. Having a volatile /tmp folder that is cleaned on every system reboot (because the computer crashed, or power failure, kernel panic, etc) to contain "recovery files" is a bad decision. This is as bad as trying to save someone who is drowning in the sea by throwing a life buoy made of material that melts in water :)p One thing is clear, the volatile /tmp folder should not be used. The discussion would be which folder should be used then. My vote is for the Linux Trash system, whose user location is "~/.local/share/Trash/files". The problem is that I am not sure that this is the location in all Linux distros, but I suppose that Blender when starting could look for the existing folders and then it would be chosen as the folder for Temporary Files. Linux Trash system has some advantages, an icon/widget is visible on the desktop or panels in most distros, so the user can quickly detect if the folder has content or is empty. In some distros Trash systems have more configuration options, such as the possibility of warning the user if the folder has reached a certain size capacity, or the possibility of configuring file auto cleaning according to their age. I hope that Blender developers can discuss about this old problem and find a solution.

Philipp Oeser commented

2021-12-30 12:39:23 +01:00

Added subscriber: @lichtwerk

Philipp Oeser commented

2021-12-30 12:39:23 +01:00

Changed status from 'Needs Triage' to: 'Needs Developer To Reproduce'

Philipp Oeser commented

2021-12-30 12:39:23 +01:00

Hm, not sure here. It is not really a bug, we can already set it to save elsewhere, so we are talking about a design decision [which probably #user_interface devs need to make at some point -- even if consensus is apparently hard to reach here].
To me it even sounds like a request for improved behavior [which would not be handled on this bugtracker].

Changing report status to reflect that.

Hm, not sure here. It is not really a bug, we can already set it to save elsewhere, so we are talking about a design decision [which probably #user_interface devs need to make at some point -- even if consensus is apparently hard to reach here]. To me it even sounds like a request for improved behavior [which would not be handled on this bugtracker]. Changing report status to reflect that.

alex commented

2022-07-01 14:41:43 +02:00

Added subscriber: @ale54x3

alex commented

2022-07-01 14:41:43 +02:00

I've lost some work to this too. I think as a bare minimum, /var/tmp should be used instead of /tmp. According to the file-hierarchy(7) this directory is typically storage-backed and persists across reboots, while still automatically removing old files so as to not allow the entire disk space to be eaten: https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/file-hierarchy.html#/var/tmp/

As this directory is defined in the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard it should be available in all Linux distros: https://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#VARTMPTEMPORARYFILESPRESERVEDBETWEE

I've lost some work to this too. I think as a bare minimum, /var/tmp should be used instead of /tmp. According to the file-hierarchy(7) this directory is typically storage-backed and persists across reboots, while still automatically removing old files so as to not allow the entire disk space to be eaten: https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/file-hierarchy.html#/var/tmp/ As this directory is defined in the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard it should be available in all Linux distros: https://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#VARTMPTEMPORARYFILESPRESERVEDBETWEE

Philipp Oeser removed the

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Blender on Linux saves autosave and session files to /tmp, resulting in data loss on a system crash #93843