Member Avatar for seaman123

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?

  • 3 Contributors
  • 6 Replies
  • 202 Views
  • 12 Hours Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by seaman123

Dani AI

Generated

A short diagnosis and safe steps for the error shown in the first post.

The message means the Software Update process could not create or write its temporary files under the system temp area. On macOS the path used by /tmp is actually /private/tmp, and the numeric folder such as “501” maps to a user UID (501 is the typical UID for the first account). If that directory or its TemporaryItems subfolder has the wrong owner or permissions, the updater will be blocked from writing files.

Quick, non-destructive checks (run in Terminal; admin privileges required to change anything):

ls -ld /private/tmp
ls -ld /private/tmp/501
ls -ld /private/tmp/501/TemporaryItems
id -u

Expected: /private/tmp should be owned by root:wheel and show the sticky, world-writable mode (permission bits shown as drwxrwxrwt or numeric 1777). id -u shows the current user’s UID so the 501 folder can be correlated to the account.

Safe fixes that keep data: reset the system temp dir and move any stale per-user temp folder out of the way so the system can recreate it on reboot. Example commands (administrator privileges required):

sudo chown root:wheel /private/tmp
sudo chmod 1777 /private/tmp
sudo mv /private/tmp/501 /private/tmp/501.backup
sudo reboot

Moving the folder preserves its contents; it’s safer than immediately removing files. As noted earlier in the thread, Repair Permissions (Disk Utility) can also restore expected modes for system-installed items, and that approach resolved the case reported by after suggestions from and . If problems persist, check free disk space, run Disk Utility First Aid to check the filesystem, and ensure a current backup before considering a reinstall (use the installer’s non-destructive options where available).

Recommended Answers

All 6 Replies

Member Avatar for yellow

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.

Member Avatar for seaman123

didn't work?

Member Avatar for yellow

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.

Member Avatar for kc0arf

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

Member Avatar for yellow

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.bom
yellow% sudo lsbom -p GUMF Archive.bom | grep "/private/tmp"
wheel   root    drwxrwxrwt      "./private/tmp"
Member Avatar for seaman123

Thanks all. This site is terrific.
I ran a disk utility and repaired permissions. Everything worked fine after that. Awesome.
thanks.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.