Finding strange folders in /tmp, can anyone explain these to me?

[bonkers]

I was looking in my /tmp folder and found a bunch of strange folders inside, so I decided to take a look inside one. Here is what I found.


Using nano I opened up one file inside kde-root and found this and inside kde-rafal the second one

^A^@^@
rafal-desktop^@^A0^@^RMIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1^@^P�U^W^KAE^Cg��ҖҖ]u


^A^@^@
rafal-desktop^@^A0^@^RMIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1^@^P�U^W^KAE^Cg��ҖҖ]u

I am worried because I looked up X-Window authorization on wiki (yes, I know, not the best place, but alas) and found this that worried me, unless I am not understanding it right

The cookie-based authorization methods are based on choosing a magic cookie (an arbitrary piece of data) and passing it to the server when it is started; every client that can prove having knowledge of this cookie is then authorized connection to the server.
These cookies are created by a separate program and stored in the file .Xauthority in the user's home directory, by default. As a result, every program run by the client on the local computer can access this file and therefore the cookie that is necessary for being authorized by the server. If the user wants to start an application from another computer on the network, the cookie has to be copied to that other computer. How the cookie is copied is a system-dependent issue: for example, on Unix-like platforms, scp can be used to copy the cookie.
The two systems using this method are MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 and XDM-AUTHORIZATION-1. In the first method, the client simply sends the cookie when requested to authenticate. In the second method, a secret key is also stored in the .Xauthority file. The client creates a string by concatenating the current time, a transport-dependent identifier, and the cookie, encrypts the resulting string, and sends it to the server.

Should all this be there?

[B]rafal@rafal-desktop:/tmp$ ls
akonadi-rafal.Q5Ca8K  kde-root              kdesudo-nn5618-xauth  
gpg-DDxFrU            kdesudo-nn5365-xauth  kdesudo-nn5664-xauth  
kde-rafal             kdesudo-nn5397-xauth  kdesudo-nn5982-xauth
[/B]

Not 5 minutes has gone by and I took another look in /tmp and found this

root@rafal-desktop:/tmp# ls
akonadi-rafal.Q5Ca8K  kdesudo-nn5397-xauth  kdesudo-nn8427-xauth
gpg-DDxFrU            kdesudo-nn5618-xauth  ksocket-rafal
kde-rafal             kdesudo-nn5664-xauth  ksocket-root
kde-root              kdesudo-nn5982-xauth  orbit-rafal
kdesudo-nn5365-xauth  kdesudo-nn6034-xauth  pulse-PKdhtXMmr18n

Are they multiplying

[claydoh]

Looks totally 100% normal to me

Not that I can explain it all or anything, but it looks fine

[Snowhog]

This should be helpful for you: http://tldp.org/LDP/intro-linux/html/sect_03_01.html

[SteveRiley]

Answering backwards.

Should all this be there?

Yes.

Are they multiplying

Not by themselves.

I am worried because I looked up X-Window authorization on wiki (yes, I know, not the best place, but alas) and found this that worried me, unless I am not understanding it right

The paragraph correctly describes the X Window authorization mechanism. There is nothing to worry about. If X sessions are shared over a network, the cookie is how the X server keeps the processes in one session isolated from the processes in another.

I was looking in my /tmp folder and found a bunch of strange folders inside, so I decided to take a look inside one.

Your posts here at KFN appear to indicate that you have an intense curiousity about the inner workings of Linux and Kubuntu and KDE. That's good! We encourage curiosity and exploration. Your posts also exhibit a slight amount of misplaced worry. During normal operation, various processes and services will create files to keep track of the information they need to carry out their tasks. I would encourage you to find a good Linux tutorial to start building your knowledge. Wikipedia is not the correct place for that; the pages there are often written for someone who already knows about the underlying subject material. Consider the paragraph you quoted about the .Xauthority file. It assumes you know what the X Window system is. If you don't know that, then the paragraph (and also my reply above) will be meaningless.

[oshunluvr]

Maybe if you understood more about the differences between Windows and Linux you'd calm down a bit. All this sort of stuff goes on with Windows too, Microsoft has just hidden it from you. Everything in Linux exists as a file, everything. You can examine, edit, delete to your hearts content, but - and a big BUT - doing so might (and will likely eventually - like all of a sudden having no shutdown button?) trash your install meaning you'll have to re-install and start over.

Why not slow down with the fears and examinations and learn more about Linux instead? I seriously doubt there's a team of hackers lead by a master criminal waiting for you to drop your guard so they can read your emails. There's way less to worry about with Linux.