In daemon mode, we remove all files that exist in the main folder from the tmp folder, and re-copy them there. This is designed to work only with the current versions of the files and not destroy temporary files.
However, we delete directories in the main folder without ever looking inside. That is problematic if temporary files are saved to such as they are deleted.
Use case: with TikZ externalization you can use a figure prefix with a folder name (for the purpose of keeping a cleaner tmp folder, or main folder for collaborators that use other tools); the folder needs to exist (pdflatex won't create it) so you delete all resulting figures between iterations, effectively nullifying the advantage of externalization.
In daemon mode, we remove all files that exist in the main folder from the tmp folder, and re-copy them there. This is designed to work only with the current versions of the files and not destroy temporary files.
However, we delete directories in the main folder without ever looking inside. That is problematic if temporary files are saved to such as they are deleted.
Use case: with TikZ externalization you can use a figure prefix with a folder name (for the purpose of keeping a cleaner tmp folder, or main folder for collaborators that use other tools); the folder needs to exist (
pdflatexwon't create it) so you delete all resulting figures between iterations, effectively nullifying the advantage of externalization.