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Chapter 6: The UNIX File System
By convention, there are directories named /tmp (and sometimes /usr/tmp) where programs and users can store temporary files. Many programs (e.g., compilers) write temporary files there or in the area specified by the environment variable TMPDIR. Since these are public areas, it is necessary to manage this space, which means that you cannot count on files being retained in these directories.
Many systems on site have fairly small /tmp areas and therefore you must be careful not to fill up this space. In general, you should only use /tmp for very temporary, small files. On many systems files in /tmp will disappear after a reboot or after existing for a week. You can set TMPDIR to a different location if there is not enough space in these areas.
Contact the administrators of the particular system to find out what the current policy is on the machine.