clipboardcache files filling up /tmp directory

[warrenpchi]

First off, this isn't really a request for help. Just wanted to point out something interesting that happened to me today in the hopes that if this should happen to some else (i.e. a noob), there's no need to panic.

So I'm wrapping up a Fedora 10 install today (finally moved up from Fedora 7) and towards the end, I'm importing my Firefox bookmarks. As I have quite a few sites bookmarked, I didn't expect the import process to be instant. But when it starting going well past a few minutes, I got suspicious. Sure enough, my system was unresponsive and the hard drive was thrashing like nuts. So I promptly logged out and logged back in.

I proceed with everything else I need to do, and finally decide to give my system a look over. That's when I noticed that I had about 80MB of free space left. Yeah, WTF right? Took a quick look, and found that I had 1,858 clipboardcache files (clipboardcache-1, clipboardcache-2, clipboardcache-3, etc.). Each one was a portion of my bookmark file, and each one was 4.5 MB large.

Google yielded remarkably little information about this. Mostly Windows users thinking it was a trojan (how typical) . . . and one lone bug report in a Debian forum. After pondering for a moment about how this might have happened - I was curious after all - I did what any sane person would do with files full of unimportant crap in the tmp directory . . . I deleted them. All 1,858 of them.

Not a big deal really, and no harm done (either before or after the deletion), and not terribly exciting news. But if any of you noobs - I mean new users - out there ever have this happen to you, don't freak out. No, Fedora did not hose your drive, and no you do not have a trojan. Firebox bookmark importing (in my case at least) puked up a bunch of garbage. Just su and look at a few of the files. If it isn't important, delete it and be on your way.

P.S. - Haven't been here in a long-ass time . . . and there were days I didn't think I'd make it . . . especially when Stanton moved on to Ubuntu. But I'm happy to say that I have been using Linux (Fedora specifically) for almost three years now and I can't even stand the thought of having to go back to Windows for any reason. Couldn't be happier that I switched.

[Nokia]

Use Foxmarks extension in Firefox