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macOS Catalina: incorrect permissions on /tmp directory

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I've recently initialized my MacBook Pro 10.2 restoring from a TimeMachine Backup. It installed macOS Catalina GM on a Beta (Not sure about that, but now I got version 19B77a (10.15.1). After this installation, there are problems installing applications or updating etc. After some investigation I've discovered that the system is unable to write the /tmp directory. I've tried to made an ls to the / directory: $ ls -lah / total 9 drwxr-xr-x 22 root admin 704B Feb 12 22:16 . drwxr-xr-x 22 root admin 704B Feb 12 22:16 .. -rw-rw-r-- 1 root admin 0B Oct 8 07:20 .DS_Store lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 36B Feb 12 22:14 .VolumeIcon.icns -> System/Volumes/Data/.VolumeIcon.icns ---------- 1 root admin 0B Oct 8 07:20 .file drwx------ 7 root admin 224B Apr 3 19:46 .fseventsd drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 64B Oct 8 07:20 .vol drwxr-xr-x+ 144 root admin 4.5K Apr 3 08:02 Applications drwxr-xr-x 64 root wheel 2.0K Mar 11 17:57 Library drwxr-xr-x@ 8 root wheel 256B Oct 15 07:37 System drwxr-xr-x 5 root admin 160B Feb 13 01:22 Users drwxr-xr-x 4 root wheel 128B Apr 3 19:50 Volumes drwxr-xr-x@ 38 root wheel 1.2K Oct 15 07:46 bin drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 64B Aug 24 2019 cores dr-xr-xr-x 3 root wheel 4.2K Apr 3 19:46 dev lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 root admin 11B Feb 12 22:06 etc -> private/etc lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 25B Apr 3 19:50 home -> /System/Volumes/Data/home drwxr-xr-x 6 root wheel 192B Feb 13 01:22 opt drwxr-xr-x 6 root wheel 192B Feb 13 01:22 private drwxr-xr-x@ 64 root wheel 2.0K Feb 12 22:14 sbin lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 root admin 11B Feb 12 22:14 tmp -> private/tmp drwxr-xr-x@ 11 root wheel 352B Feb 12 22:14 usr lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 root admin 11B Feb 12 22:14 var -> private/var So I can see there is an incorrect group in the alias /tmp directory, but correct in /private: $ ls -lah /private/ total 0 drwxr-xr-x 6 root wheel 192B Feb 13 01:22 . drwxr-xr-x 22 root admin 704B Feb 12 22:16 .. drwxr-xr-x 126 root wheel 3.9K Mar 30 00:07 etc drwxr-xr-x@ 2 root wheel 64B Feb 13 01:22 tftpboot lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 root wheel 11B Jun 27 2018 tmp -> private/tmp drwxr-xr-x 31 root wheel 992B Feb 13 08:08 var So the next step is try to set the correct group on /tmp, but, since Catalina, the System partition is read-only: $ sudo chown root:wheel /tmp Password: chown: /tmp: Read-only file system Obliviously I've already disabled SIP: $ /usr/bin/csrutil status System Integrity Protection status: disabled. So, whats next? Got any suggestion?
Asked by andreaem (111 rep)
Apr 3, 2020, 06:07 PM
Last activity: Sep 19, 2023, 06:06 AM