Reminder: Fixes for problems installing through Software Update

Several users are experiencing issues applying some or all of the February 15th Apple releases through Software Update.

One option for getting around this problem is to use the standalone downloads, as follows:

• Security Update 2007-002
• Daylight saving time update (2/15) for Mac OS X 10.4.8 and 10.3.9
• Java for Mac OS X 10.4 Release 5
• Java for Mac OS X 10.3 Update 5

More permanent resolution can generally be found, however, through the workarounds listed in our tutorial "When Software Update Won't Work (System cannot see or install updates)."

In particular, some users are reporting receiving the error message:

"The update could not be verified and expanded correctly. Make sure you have permission to write to/private/tmp/501/TemporaryItem/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate."

This is an issue generally soluble through one of these fixes:

Modifying permissions You can use the tool BatChmod to modify folder permissions for the "/tmp/501" directory implicated by the error message mentioned above. Use the Finder to search for names containing 501 or 502 (depending on your error message) with second criteria both visible and invisible then drag the enclosing invisible Temp folder on to the BatChmod icon and select the 'Apply Ownership and Privileges' then press apply 'Apply' button.

tar missing (Developer Tools uninstalled) In some cases, applications critical to Software update -- in particular tar and pax may be missing from your Mac OS X installation. In order to make sure that these applications to indeed reside on your startup drive, you may want to try an Archive and Install process, restoring these critical components that may have been otherwise damaged.

This problem can occur, for instance, if you previously installed XCode and then used the XCode Tools uninstaller. The uninstaller may mistakenly break the tar utility, causing Software Update to fail. Reinstalling the XCode Tools from the Panther CD can cause this issue.

Logical link broken In other cases, the logical link for the /tmp directory may be broken. Entering the following commands through the Terminal application (located in Applications/Utilities on a standard Mac OS X installation) usually resolves this problem (note that you will be asked for your administrator password):

• sudo mv /tmp /tmp_old
• sudo ln -s /private/tmp /tmp

Permissions repairs Try using Apple's Disk Utility (located in Applications/Utilities) to repair permissions, then try running Software Update again. This works for a high percentage of afflicted systems. Failing this, try starting up from your Mac OS X CD/DVD and repairing permissions again.

Again, for more fixes, see our Software Update tutorial.

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