title: What is the npm tmp directory? Can I delete it?
body: <p>On a brand new Ubuntu machine 12.04.3 I did the following installations on my home directory:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Git: <code>sudo apt-get install git</code></li>
  <li>Node.js: <code>sudo apt-get install nodejs</code> and updated it <a href="http://davidwalsh.name/upgrade-nodejs" rel="noreferrer">with</a> <code>sudo npm cache clean -f</code>, <code>sudo npm install -g n</code>, <code>sudo n stable</code></li>
  <li>npm: <code>sudo apt-get install npm</code> and then updated it with <code>npm update npm -g</code></li>
  <li>Yoeman: <code>sudo npm install -g yo</code></li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>A new "tmp" directory popped up in my home directory with the following structure:</p>
  
  <pre><code>npm-13728-uErqEQ4O:
  1392566713336-0.9297236264683306  1392566726706-0.4921755278483033
  
  npm-13763-yoMEDYdC:
  1392566864990-0.09957328205928206
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Each of the uErqEQ4O subdirectories contain:</p>
  
  <pre><code>tmp.tgz
  
  package:
  AUTHORS  configure        html     make.bat  node_modules  scripts
  bin      CONTRIBUTING.md  lib      Makefile  package.json  test
  cli.js   doc              LICENSE  man       README.md
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The yoMEDYdC subdirectory contains:</p>
  
  <pre><code>tmp.tgz
  
  package:
  cli.js  package.json  readme.md  scripts  yeoman.txt  yoyo.js
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong>What is this tmp npm directory</strong> and everything inside it? Why was it generated?</p>
  
  <p><strong>Can I delete it?</strong> If not, where can I move it to because I don't want it in my home directory?</p>