An administrator can set the TMP_VI environment variable to the path name of an alternate location where vi is to create its recovery files.

Guideline: This environment variable should be set by a system administrator rather than a user. If a user sets the TMP_VI directory to something other than the name that exrecover recognizes as TMP_VI, the user must manually run the exrecover daemon to allow the directory files to be converted to the recoverable files that are used by vi (located in /etc/recover/$LOGNAME).

Restriction: A system administrator should not set TMP_VI to /etc/recover/$LOGNAME or to any directory where a path name component is an environment variable with a user's value that is different from the value of the init process—for example, $HOME.

The temporary vi files are converted into a form that is recoverable by vi when exrecover is run during IPL. Because exrecover is issued during IPL, it is owned by the init process and, therefore, contains different values for certain environment variables if those environment variables have been set. Throughout the file system, there may be some temporary files that can only be converted by exrecover. This conversion can be done manually by a system administrator to recover files owned by all users or by individual users to recover their own files.