This is done the old-fashioned Unix way and has nothing to do with RAM. I never heard that a file is lost because the system takes it away while you are using it. AFAIK the rule is that the resource a temporary file has been using (disk space, and if RAM or virtual memory would be involved, this is arbitrated by the system and users should not meddle with this) is basically released, as soon as the temporary file is closed. Since quitting an application implicitly also closes normally all its files, they are released to be possibly deleted whenever the system sees fit. AFAIK applications can also create their own temporary folders within /private/tmp and if that application quits, that folder is released for subsequent deletion too, including all the files it may have contained. That's the price you have to pay for a system conveniently cleaning up to free resources for other uses. Moreover, the entire folder /private/tmp is AFAIK deleted at each restart.
This all means that if you wish to work with a pdf on a more permanent basis, you should make a decision and not merely continue viewing it on a temporary basis. This means, take it out of the /private/tmp folder and move it first e.g. to your pdf repository. BTW, BibDesk conveniently supports you there and Skim offers also a Save As command. Regards, Andreas ETH Zurich Prof. Dr. Andreas Fischlin Systems Ecology - Institute of Integrative Biology CHN E 21.1 Universitaetstrasse 16 8092 Zurich SWITZERLAND [email protected] www.sysecol.ethz.ch +41 44 633-6090 phone +41 44 633-1136 fax +41 79 221-4657 mobile Make it as simple as possible, but distrust it! ________________________________________________________________________ On 24/Jan/2011, at 19:54 , Maxwell, Adam R wrote: > > On Jan 24, 2011, at 10:36, Michael Kraft wrote: > >> Just out of curiosity, when Safari downloads the PDF "to a temporary file in >> a hidden folder," does that result in the same 'writing to disk' as >> downloading a PDF with Firefox -- the only difference being that Firefox >> (without the plugin) requires the user to manually delete the PDF, whereas >> Safari does that automatically? > > Yes. Safari writes to disk in a location managed by the system, which is > automatically purged at Apple-specified intervals. This has caused me > problems a time or two, since it occasionally deletes a file I have open in > Skim, and that file is gone for good if I quit and relaunch Skim. > >> Or are such 'temporary files' ever created in RAM only? > > Technically it could be created from PDF data in RAM only, but that would be > pointless. Suppose you want to view a 100 MB PDF file; keeping that in RAM > is going to needlessly inflate your heap usage, and likely the OS would swap > it out to disk anyway. It's only potentially worthwhile for tiny files, and > you can't even a priori guarantee the size of a download. > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Special Offer-- Download ArcSight Logger for FREE (a $49 USD value)! > Finally, a world-class log management solution at an even better price-free! > Download using promo code Free_Logger_4_Dev2Dev. Offer expires > February 28th, so secure your free ArcSight Logger TODAY! > http://p.sf.net/sfu/arcsight-sfd2d > _______________________________________________ > Skim-app-users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/skim-app-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Special Offer-- Download ArcSight Logger for FREE (a $49 USD value)! Finally, a world-class log management solution at an even better price-free! Download using promo code Free_Logger_4_Dev2Dev. Offer expires February 28th, so secure your free ArcSight Logger TODAY! http://p.sf.net/sfu/arcsight-sfd2d _______________________________________________ Skim-app-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/skim-app-users
