'tempdirectory' in config.php is ignored.

[thisaccountname]

Steps to reproduce

1. Fresh installation of NC
2. Change data directory successfully, config.php looks like:

 'datadirectory' => '/mnt/my8TBeZ/nextcloud/data',
  'tempdirectory' => '/mnt/my8TBeZ/nextcloud/data/tmp',

3. Upload decently sized file, monitor disk usage during upload.

Expected behaviour

'tempdirectory' is used and only my external drive's disk space decreases.

Actual behaviour

Large (~150MB) chunks are continually written to SD card before being transferred to external.

Server configuration

Operating system:
Raspbian
Web server:
Apache
Database:
MySQL/MariaDB
PHP version:
7.3
Nextcloud version: (see Nextcloud admin page)
18.0.1.3
Updated from an older Nextcloud/ownCloud or fresh install:
Fresh Install
Where did you install Nextcloud from:
NC Github

Things I've done

Added upload_tmp_dir = /mnt/my8TBeZ/nextcloud/data/tmp to my .user.ini file.
Added upload_tmp_dir = /mnt/my8TBeZ/nextcloud/data/tmp to my php.ini file.

Ensured proper ownership on mount location, running both

sudo chmod 0770 /mnt/my8TBeZ/nextcloud/
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /mnt/my8TBeZ/nextcloud/

I can read and write files just fine. The process in which they get there is the part I can't change.

Apparently I wasn't alone in this, I am hoping this thread won't be ignored as much as @berho's was

[kesselb]

Don't put the temp directory inside the data directory.

[thisaccountname]

Don't put the temp directory inside the data directory.

Changes made, server restarted.

Same behavior.

[kesselb]

Yes. Just a general note not to do that.

[kesselb]

I don't see any issue with Nextcloud. tempdirectory is not relevant for uploads. Chunks are always uploaded to the datadirectory. PHP also has a directive for temporary files. Change that directive to a location on your external disk.

[thisaccountname]

Chunks are always uploaded to the datadirectory.

Then why, after setting my data directory to my external drive, does this behavior persist?

PHP also has a directive for temporary files. Change that directive to a location on your external disk.

As mentioned in my post, I did.

I don't see any issue with Nextcloud.

Here's another user from 2018 with the same issue getting a similar response.

[kesselb]

As mentioned in my post, I did.

You don't. upload_tmp_dir is the wrong directive.

[thisaccountname]

You don't. upload_tmp_dir is the wrong directive.

Why didn't you mention that 4 days ago?

Both upload_tmp_dir and sys_temp_dir are defined. Are either of these supposed to be fixing this issue?

[suslikas]

Same for version 18.0.4.2. Php-fpm 7.3+nginx. From this case

./lib/private/TempManager.php

    if ($temp = $this->config->getSystemValue('tempdirectory', null)) {
      $directories[] = $temp;
    }
    if ($temp = \OC::$server->getIniWrapper()->get('upload_tmp_dir')) {
      $directories[] = $temp;
    }
    if ($temp = getenv('TMP')) {
      $directories[] = $temp;
    }
    if ($temp = getenv('TEMP')) {
      $directories[] = $temp;
    }
    if ($temp = getenv('TMPDIR')) {
      $directories[] = $temp;
    }
    if ($temp = sys_get_temp_dir()) {
      $directories[] = $temp;
    }

Work only TMPDIR when configured in php-fpm pool as

env[TMPDIR] = /path/tmp

[suslikas]

@kesselb can you reopen issue? Problem not related with tmp directory path.

[kesselb]

What problem are you talking about?

[suslikas]

tempdirectory parameter in config.php is ignored. During file upload via webdav all php temporary files stored in /tmp

'tempdirectory' => '/data/tmp',

[kesselb]

I don't see any issue with Nextcloud. tempdirectory is not relevant for uploads. Chunks are always uploaded to the datadirectory. PHP also has a directive for temporary files. Change that directive to a location on your external disk.

Uploads are processed by PHP before handed to Nextcloud. We are unable to change the location PHP uses to store temporary files used for uploads.

https://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php#ini.upload-tmp-dir

https://www.php.net/manual/en/configuration.changes.modes.php

[suslikas]

My questions not about how to change php upload directory. tempdirectory directive for other nextcloud temporary files, not php upload? Then make sense update documentation, because is not clear.

/**
 * Override where Nextcloud stores temporary files. Useful in situations where
 * the system temporary directory is on a limited space ramdisk or is otherwise
 * restricted, or if external storages which do not support streaming are in
 * use.
 *
 * The Web server user must have write access to this directory.
 */
'tempdirectory' => '/tmp/nextcloudtemp',

Thank you. Now it's clear.

[thisaccountname]

@suslikas this was a while ago but the only way I was able to get around this behavior was to put my RPi filesystem on an external USB drive.

I followed this guide:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=44177

I also ended up moving away from Nextcloud, but from the short amount of testing I did this solved my problem. Pain in the butt but overall better performance regardless.

Good luck!

[petrosy]

I have the same issue which I solved as follows.
I created my new TMP folder and then setup a symbolic link to the original default

I first deleted the original /var/snap/nextcloud/common/nextcloud/tmp
then linked my new folder
ln -sf /media/usbc/nextcloud/tmp/ /var/snap/nextcloud/common/nextcloud/
folder is owned by ROOT

[sebastiansterk]

Issue still persists in Nextcloud 24. tempdirectory is still being ignored. :-/

[CaptainSifff]

As stated above setting the php environment variables does the trick. A clarification in the docs for this setting would still be nice....

[kesselb]

@CaptainSifff mind to send a pull request?

[CaptainSifff]

like so? #35974