Re: Users do what works for them
Some years ago, I worked at an outfit supporting a suite of applications hosted on some HP-UX servers. One day, we started to get calls from the factory that the critical apps were down and they had stopped building airplanes. Upon logging into the system, I found that the /tmp subdirectory had been deleted. Calling the sysadmin, I found that the IT department had recently hired a new manager. One not familiar with the systems we used. He took it upon himself to start poking around and asking questions. One being, "What's this /tmp subdirectory for?" When informed* that it was used for storing "junk" he ordered that said subdirectory be deleted immediately. "We don't store junk on our production servers!" Being a real type A manager (I can guess what the A really stood for) nobody dared disobey his orders.
I managed to resurrect the stuff I was responsible for by setting my TMPDIR environment variable to another path. But it did take several days of intermittent system operation before admins could go over this guy's head and straighten the whole /tmp fiasco out.
*Whoever supplied this incorrect description is really the one who deserves the flogging. One has to be very careful when briefing a PHB or the error may propagate out of your control.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
