When I endeavor to download software updates on my ibook G4, I get the following message: " Make sure you have permission to write to /private/tmp/501/TemporaryItems/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate".
there are no permissions set (nothing is locked) on my system. How can I correct this problem. Or, can I reinstall OS without losing files or software? and if so...will this fix the problem?
seaman123
0
Newbie Poster
Recommended Answers
Jump to PostA restart should fix this.. but we can try something else..
Open Terminal, type:
sudo rm -rf /tmp/501/TemporaryItems/
Hit Return, enter your admin password, and now try using Software Update as normal.
OR
sudo chown -R username /tmp/501
Where username is your account's short …
Jump to PostThank you for your help. However, none of the ideas worked. Response kept coming back as permission for 501...stuff?
Hmm.. try this then:
sudo rm -rf /tmp/501
Enter your admin password when prompted, then restart your computer immediately after the prompt comes back. /etc/rc.cleanup should be nuking everything …
All 6 Replies
yellow
5
Posting Pro
A restart should fix this.. but we can try something else..
Open Terminal, type:
sudo rm -rf /tmp/501/TemporaryItems/
Hit Return, enter your admin password, and now try using Software Update as normal.
OR
sudo chown -R username /tmp/501
Where username is your account's short username. Hit Return, enter your admin password, and now try using Software Update as normal.
seaman123
0
Newbie Poster
didn't work?
yellow
5
Posting Pro
Thank you for your help. However, none of the ideas worked. Response kept coming back as permission for 501...stuff?
Hmm.. try this then:
sudo rm -rf /tmp/501
Enter your admin password when prompted, then restart your computer immediately after the prompt comes back. /etc/rc.cleanup should be nuking everything in /tmp automatically. If you get responses other then a prompt, please copy and paste them here.
kc0arf
68
Posting Virtuoso
Team Colleague
Hello,
I would try a disk repair --> Fix Permissions on the computer first. You may have other things out of whack. This tool is part of the Disk Utility tool found in the Applications --> Utilities folder.
Christian
yellow
5
Posting Pro
That might help.. I cannot really tell, but it doesn't look like repairing of permissions will decend into /tmp any further then /tmp's root level. But it certainly won't hurt anything!
yellow% sudo grepbom "/private/tmp"
........./private/tmp
====> /Library/Receipts//BaseSystem.pkg/Contents/Archive.bomyellow% sudo lsbom -p GUMF Archive.bom | grep "/private/tmp"
wheel root drwxrwxrwt "./private/tmp"
seaman123
0
Newbie Poster
Thanks all. This site is terrific.
I ran a disk utility and repaired permissions. Everything worked fine after that. Awesome.
thanks.
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