I made my screenshots autosave to tmpfs

I take screenshots a lot using Spectacle, so I set my default save location to /run/user/1000/screenshots and made it autosave and copy to clipboard.

Since /run/user/1000/ is a tmpfs, it gets wiped on reboot, it doesn't write to my SSD, and unlike /tmp/ it's inaccessible by other users. I think it's really convenient!

Anyone else doing this? I also often download zip files to /run/user/1000/screenshots so I can extract and delete the zip file without wasting SSD writes lol.

56 points · 16 comments · view on lemmy.world

16 Comments

snoons@lemmy.ca · 30 pts · 4d (2 replies)

I like to save my screenshots in case they become relevant, like so:

diegantobass@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 4d

"Relevant" comes from "relief" and somehow it's exactly what your screenshot conveys. Pertinent.

LiveLM@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 4d

If anyone's wondering, it's a frame of the music video for A$AP Rocky's "Tailor Swif"

starsoaked_lily@lemmy.ml · 10 pts · 4d

neat, thanks for sharing the idea

Mihies@programming.dev · 6 pts · 4d (2 replies)

It uses RAM, though. And if I'm not mistaken, it could write to swap file. But I guess it's not an issue with screenshots unless one doesn't make million of those without deleting them.

Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com · 4 pts · 4d (1 reply)

yea it does, but it's pretty minimal

mine is at 3.7 MB with 23 png files (I always use the rectangle select, not full screenshot)

Mihies@programming.dev · 7 pts · 4d

That's worth at least $100 with current RAM prices 😜

onlinepersona@programming.dev · 2 pts · 4d (2 replies)

How did you do that? Is there a configuration option in the GUI?

Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com · 3 pts · 4d (1 reply)

yea, in Spectacle click the Options, Configure Spectacle

in General, check "Save file to default folder"

and in Image Saving, set the Save Location

onlinepersona@programming.dev · 1 pts · 4d

Nice, thanks!

tom_s@friendica.ambag.es · 1 pts · 4d

@Die4Ever Thumbs up. I was reading, when will /tmp be cleaned without reboot, as default, is one day on debian. But for a workstation, you do not have to take care about this I think.

tom_s@friendica.ambag.es · 1 pts · 4d (2 replies)

@Die4Ever

Why don't use /tmp for this?

$ mount | grep /tmp
tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,inode64)

Devuan excalibur, Debian is the same.

Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com · 1 pts · 4d (1 reply)

Because /tmp/ is accessible by any user

Ghoelian@piefed.social · 2 pts · 4d

Don't the screenshots get saved with your user as the owner? The only real difference is that other users can list your screenshots in /tmp afaict.

tom_s@friendica.ambag.es · 1 pts · 4d (1 reply)

@Die4Ever /tmp as a directory, yes. Rest depends on your settings and software.

Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com · 1 pts · 4d

I'd rather leave things as default when possible, /tmp/ being the public tmpfs and /run/user/1000/ being the private tmpfs