Re: Problematic temporary BAT files

[Eli Zaretskii]

[Please keep the list address on the CC, so that it gets archived, and
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Resending to the list.

> Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 17:06:01 +0200
> From: Bostjan Mihoric <address@hidden>
> 
> On Wed, Oct 15, 2014 at 10:56 PM, Eli Zaretskii <address@hidden> wrote:
> 
>     > Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 19:45:23 +0200
>     > From: Bostjan Mihoric <address@hidden>
>     >
>     > Even if we ignore the impact this can have on (SSD) drive wear (doing a
>     lot of
>     > big compilations),
>     
>     I don't think this is a real problem. There are systems out there
>     which have the page file on an SSD disk, and still the disk resources
>     are enough to go on long after the machine is upgraded and abandoned.
>     
> 
> True, such systems are around. Yet, I observed a lot of BAT files being
> created.
> If I'm not mistaken, one gets generated for every command (every line that 
> fits
> the
> rule). And every one can mean write amplification of 512 KiB (or whatever SSD
> write block is sized at), even if BAT file is 100 B. I would not underestimate
> this.
> But let's skip this for now, as it is of less importance. This part could
> indeed be
> solved by redirecting the temporary folders as you suggest.
> 
>     > there are Windows systems out there where the policies deny running
>     > programs from temporary folders (which are one of the first stops
>     > for malware).
>     
>     You can control where the batch files are created, see below.
>     
>     > What I would very much appreciate is if there would be at least one of
>     the
>     > following options:
>     > A) Option to not generate BAT files (work like Make 3.80 in this 
> regard).
>     
>     Not going to happen, unless someone submits a clean patch to do that,
>     and shows that the problems that caused us to switch to batch files
>     are not reintroduced back.
>     
>     > B) Option to set the target directory for temporary BAT files (instead 
> of
>     using
>     > system defaults).
>     
>     The "system defaults" are documented here:
>     
>     
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa364992%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
>    
>     
>     This is the function used by Make on Windows to obtain the temporary
>     directory name. By setting one of the environment variables
>     documented on that page, you can control where Make creates these
>     batch files.
>     
> 
> Yes, I already knew this is possible, but... Please assume that temporary
> folders are
> blocked from execution (for a good reason). This goes no matter where I
> redirect them.
> Malware also looks up that same API, so the target folder should be blocked.
> I hope you understand.
> 
>     > Could you please direct me, where should I submit this suggestion so 
> that
>     it
>     > has a chance of being implemented?
>     
>     Here.
>     
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Bostjan