Re: os.tmpname makes empty file

[Luiz Henrique de Figueiredo <lhf@...>]

> I know most people are aware of this, but I found the documentation
> misleading. It says it creates a string suitable for a temporary file
> but doesn't mention the creation of the file too. Perhaps add this to
> the documentation in the future? Personally I don't like that it
> creates a file and would much rather it only create a string. This
> apparently only affects POSIX compliant systems?

The POSIX specification says nothing about automatically creating the file.
On the contrary, it says "This function only creates filenames. It
is the application's responsibility to create and remove the files."
http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/tmpnam.html

However, creating an empty file seems to be an easy way to ensure uniqueness.

Bottom line: the Lua manual should at least mention this possibility.