View source for Tmpfs

{{Short description|Temporary file system on Unix-like systems}}
{{lower case}}
'''tmpfs''' (short for ''temporary file system'') is a [[temporary file]] storage paradigm implemented in many [[Unix-like]] operating systems.  It is intended to appear as a mounted [[file system]], but data is stored in [[volatile memory]] instead of a persistent storage device.

The idea behind tmpfs is similar in concept to a [[RAM disk]], in that both provide a file system stored in volatile memory; however, the implementations are different. While tmpfs is implemented at the ''logical file system'' layer, a RAM disk is implemented at the ''[[File system#Architecture|physical file system]]'' layer. In other words, a RAM disk is a virtual block device with a normal file system running on top of it, while tmpfs is a virtual file system without any underlying block device.

== Semantics ==
Everything stored in tmpfs is temporary in the sense that no files will be directly created on [[non-volatile storage]] such as a [[hard drive]] (although [[swap space]] is used as backing store according to the [[page replacement]] policy of the operating system). On [[Reboot (computer)|reboot]], everything in tmpfs will be lost.

The memory used by tmpfs grows and shrinks to accommodate the files it contains.

Many Unix [[distribution (software)|distribution]]s enable and use tmpfs by default for the {{mono|[[/tmp]]}} branch of the file system or for [[Shared memory (interprocess communication)|shared memory]]. This can be observed with {{mono|[[df (Unix)|df]]}} as in this example:

 Filesystem     1K-blocks   Used Available Use% Mounted on 
 tmpfs            1686428      0   1686428   0% /dev/shm 
 tmpfs             674572   1808    672764   1% /run 
 tmpfs               1024      0      1024   0% /run/credentials/systemd-journald.service 
 tmpfs            1686428   1628   1684800   1% /tmp 
 tmpfs               1024      0      1024   0% /run/credentials/getty@tty1.service 
 tmpfs               1024      0      1024   0% /run/credentials/getty@tty3.service 
 tmpfs             337284     32    337252   1% /run/user/0 
 tmpfs               1024      0      1024   0% /run/credentials/getty@tty4.service 
 tmpfs             337284 280464     56820  84% /run/user/1000

Some Linux distributions (e.g. [[Debian]] until Debian 13<ref>{{Cite news |last=Brockmeier |first=Joe |date=2024-06-03 |title=Debian's /tmpest in a teapot |url=https://lwn.net/Articles/975565/ |access-date=2025-08-29 |work=LWN.net |language=en-US}}</ref>) do not have a tmpfs mounted on {{mono|[[/tmp]]}} by default; in this case, files under {{mono|/tmp}} will be stored in the same file system as {{mono|/}}.

On almost all Linux distributions{{citation needed|date=December 2025}}, a tmpfs is mounted on {{mono|/run/}} or {{mono|/var/run/}} to store temporary run-time files such as [[Process identifier#Pidfile|PID files]] and [[Unix domain sockets]].

== Implementations ==

There are several independent variants of the tmpfs concept. One of the earliest was developed by [[Sun Microsystems]] for SunOS, and other operating systems like the BSDs and Linux provided their own.

=== SunOS ===
[[SunOS]] 4 includes what is most likely the earliest implementation of tmpfs; it first appeared in SunOS 4.0 in late 1987, together with new orthogonal address space management that allowed any object to be memory mapped.<ref>{{cite web
  | url = http://wiki.deimos.fr/images/1/1e/Solaris_tmpfs.pdf
  | title = tmpfs: A Virtual Memory File System
  | access-date = 2007-05-07
  | author = Peter Snyder
  | archive-date = 2025-03-11
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250311195100/https://wiki.deimos.fr/images/1/1e/Solaris_tmpfs.pdf
  | url-status = dead
  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web
  | url = http://www.sun3arc.org/papers/Perf/SunOS_4.1_performance_tuning.ps.gz
  | title = SunOS 4.1 Performance Tuning
  | access-date = 2007-05-07
  | author = Hal L. Stern
  | format = [[GZip]]ped PostScript
  | archive-date = 2012-02-07
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120207050201/http://www.sun3arc.org/papers/Perf/SunOS_4.1_performance_tuning.ps.gz
  | url-status = dead
  }}</ref>

The [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]] {{mono|/tmp}} directory was made a tmpfs file system by default starting with Solaris 2.1,<ref>{{cite web
  |title=SPARC: Installing Solaris Software |url=http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/sun/solaris/2.5/802-1959-10_Solaris_2.5_SPARC_Installing_Solaris_Software_Nov95.pdf
  |publisher=SunSoft
  |pages=9
  |date=December 1992
  |access-date=April 23, 2019
}}</ref> released in December 1992.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.operating-system.org/betriebssystem/_english/bs-solaris.htm |title=Solaris Operating System (Unix) |work=operating-system.org }}</ref> Output for the Solaris {{mono|df}} command will show ''swap'' as the background storage for any tmpfs volume:
{{sxhl|2=console|
# df -k
Filesystem  kbytes  used   avail capacity  Mounted on
swap        601592     0  601592     0%    /tmp/test
}}

=== Linux ===
tmpfs is supported by the [[Linux kernel]] beginning in version 2.4 (January 4, 2001).<ref>{{cite web |author=Daniel Robbins |author-link=Daniel Robbins (computer programmer) |date=2001-09-01 |title=Common threads: Advanced filesystem implementor's guide, Part 3 |url=http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-fs3/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120203112045/http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-fs3/index.html |archive-date=2012-02-03 |access-date=2013-02-15 |publisher=IBM DeveloperWorks}}</ref> Linux tmpfs (previously known as '''shm fs''')<ref name=":6">{{cite web |author=Daniel Robbins |author-link=Daniel Robbins (computer programmer) |date=2001-09-01 |title=Common threads: Advanced filesystem implementor's guide, Part 3 |url=http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-fs3/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120203112045/http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-fs3/index.html |archive-date=2012-02-03 |access-date=2013-02-15 |publisher=IBM DeveloperWorks}}</ref> is based on the ramfs code used during bootup and also uses the [[page cache]], but, unlike ramfs, it supports swapping out less-used pages to swap space, as well as filesystem size and inode limits to prevent [[out of memory|out-of-memory]] situations (defaulting to half of physical RAM and half the number of RAM pages, respectively).<ref>{{cite web
| url=https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/filesystems/tmpfs.txt
| title=tmpfs.txt
|author1=Christoph Rohland |author2=Hugh Dickins |author3=KOSAKI Motohiro | access-date=2010-03-16
| publisher=[[kernel.org]]
}}</ref>

=== BSD ===
[[Berkeley Software Distribution#VAX versions|4.2BSD]] introduced MFS,<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://netbsd.gw.com/cgi-bin/man-cgi?mount_mfs++NetBSD-current
| title = NetBSD mount_mfs(8) man page
| date = 2007-12-08
| access-date = 2013-02-15
| archive-date = 2016-04-16
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160416092907/http://netbsd.gw.com/cgi-bin/man-cgi?mount_mfs++NetBSD-current
| url-status = dead
}}</ref> a memory-based file system implemented by applying the existing [[Unix File System|FFS]] disk filesystem to a virtual memory region.

tmpfs, a memory filesystem implemented using conventional in-memory data structures in order to improve on the performance of MFS, was merged into the official [[NetBSD]] source tree on September 10, 2005;<ref>{{cite web
| url = https://netbsd-soc.sourceforge.net/projects/tmpfs/
| title = NetBSD-SoC: Efficient memory file-system
| author = Julio M. Merino Vidal
| date = 2006-02-24
| access-date = 2013-02-15}}</ref> it is available in 4.0 and later versions.

[[FreeBSD]] has ported NetBSD's implementation, where it is available in 7.0 and later versions.<ref>{{cite web
| url = https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=tmpfs
| title = FreeBSD tmpfs(5) manpage
| author = Xin LI
| date = 2013-04-23
| access-date = 2008-12-02}}</ref>

[[DragonFly BSD]] has also ported NetBSD's implementation, where it is available in 2.5.1 and later versions.

[[OpenBSD]] ported NetBSD's tmpfs implementation as well, initially started by Pedro Martelletto and improved by many others. It was enabled in builds from December 17, 2013.<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-cvs&m=138706370810284&w=2
| title = CVS: cvs.openbsd.org: src - enable tmpfs so it gets tested some more }}</ref> The first release of OpenBSD with tmpfs included was 5.5.<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.openbsd.org/55.html
| title = OpenBSD 5.5
| date = 2014-05-01
| access-date = 2014-05-01}}</ref> OpenBSD 6.0 disabled tmpfs due to lack of maintenance.

== Advantages ==
Due to the higher speeds of RAM compared to disk storage, tmpfs allows [[Cache (computing)|cache]] to be much faster when stored in one, leading to a more efficient overall system, though operating systems with a [[page cache]] will see less benefit as recently-used file pages will remain in-memory if free memory is sufficient. Since RAM is cleared upon reboot, tmpfs prevents systems from becoming too cluttered without requiring that the user manually delete temporary files. In addition, storing files in RAM prevents disks from filling up too quickly and extends the life of [[flash memory|flash-based storage]] by reducing the number of writes.

== Disadvantages ==
On systems without [[swap space]], or where swap space is running low, tmpfs may consume large amounts of memory.

If cache files are stored in tmpfs, programs will lose their cached data across reboots. 

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{cite web
| url=http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E26502_01/html/E29044/tmpfs-7fs.html
| title=Solaris tmpfs(7FS) man page
| access-date=2013-02-25}}
* {{cite web
| url=https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/filesystems/tmpfs.txt
| title=Kernel.org tmpfs documentation
| access-date=2015-10-05}}

{{File systems}}

[[Category:Special-purpose file systems]]
[[Category:Special-purpose file systems supported by the Linux kernel]]
[[Category:Computer-related introductions in 1987]]
[[Category:Linux kernel features]]