320535 - clearing cache removes symbolic link to a custom directory

Status: UNCONFIRMED

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Markus Järvinen]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20051111 Firefox/1.5
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20051111 Firefox/1.5

I'm trying to keep backups small and don't want to keep the cache in my home directory. There doesn't seem to be a way to select a custom cache directory, so I'm using a symbolic link pointing to a directory in /tmp. Most of the time this works, but clearing the cache removes the symlink and recreates the cache in my home directory.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. cd .mozilla/firefox/*/
2. rm -r Cache
3. mkdir /tmp/Cache
4. ln -s /tmp/Cache
5. start firefox
6. enable "Edit -> Preferences -> Privacy -> Cache -> Settings -> Clear private data when closing Firefox"
7. quit firefox
Actual Results:  
The symbolic link is removed and a new Cache directory is created in my home directory.

Expected Results:  
Remove the contents of the actual directory where "Cache" points. Even better would be a preference for the cache directory.

Comment 1

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

You can just set the browser.cache.disk.parent_directory pref using about:config. See also bug 239254.

Comment 3

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

This bug was reported on Firefox 2.x or older, which is no longer supported and will not be receiving any more updates. I strongly suggest that you update to Firefox 3.6.3 or later, update your plugins (flash, adobe, etc.), and retest in a new profile. If you still see the issue with the updated Firefox, please post here. Otherwise, please close as RESOLVED > WORKSFORME
http://www.mozilla.com
http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Managing+profiles
http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Safe+mode

Comment 4

[Markus Järvinen]

The symlink still gets deleted in 3.6.3.

Comment 5

[annajaworskaniucha]

8 years and still CX ****

Comment 6

[Ethan Owens]

Are you sure it isn’t on the browser? The browser could cache the URL and redirect to it even if you deleted it. The best bet is to completely remove browser cache, maybe even try incognito mode (as it doesn’t read from cache/history) or even other browsers.

This plugin is based on mod_rewrite. mod_rewrite should not cache anything by itself so it should not make problems. Do you use it alongside mod_cache maybe? https://maritimemedicinals.ca/