Can't install security updates, please help.

[ScotRobson]

Hi all

I'm trying to install 2 updates.

Java 1.4.2 Update 2 and Security Update 2004-09-16

below is a screen shot of the error message i'm getting. My mac seems to be playing up a lot at the moment I am also having this problem -http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=1049576#post1049576 - but im not sure if they are related.

Hope someone can help. - I have repaired permissions.

[varmit]

Hi all

I'm trying to install 2 updates.

Java 1.4.2 Update 2 and Security Update 2004-09-16

below is a screen shot of the error message i'm getting. My mac seems to be playing up a lot at the moment I am also having this problem -http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=1049576#post1049576 - but im not sure if they are related.

Hope someone can help. - I have repaired permissions.

What type of connection are you on? I have cable and one of my friends has dail up. When he trys updates at home, he gets these errors. So he comes to my house to hook up and get updates. If you are dial up, that might be the same issue, which I don't really know why it is.

[ScotRobson]

What type of connection are you on? I have cable and one of my friends has dail up. When he trys updates at home, he gets these errors. So he comes to my house to hook up and get updates. If you are dial up, that might be the same issue, which I don't really know why it is.

Boradband mate and i've never had a problem with updates :confused:

[yellow]

sudo rm -rf /tmp/501/TemporaryItems

Reboot. Try again.

[ScotRobson]

sudo rm -rf /tmp/501/TemporaryItems

Reboot. Try again.

Ok, I tried that twice, wasnt sure of the spacing. Where did I go wrong?

[edesignuk]

Try installing them from the file downloads of the patches at apple.com/downloads and see what happens.

Java 1.4.2 Update 2 (http://wsidecar.apple.com/cgi-bin/nph-reg3rdpty1.pl/product=03650&platform=osx&method=sa/Java142Update2.dmg)
Security Update 2004-09-16 (10.3.5 + iChat 2.1) 1.0 (http://wsidecar.apple.com/cgi-bin/nph-reg3rdpty1.pl/product=04758&platform=osx&method=sa/SecUpd2004-09-16Pan.dmg) (This is the one for panther, if you're on Jag see here (http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/)).

[varmit]

Ok, I tried that twice, wasnt sure of the spacing. Where did I go wrong?

EDIT: Hold it, the first time it went though be it didn't find the file directory, give me a second

Second Edit: put a final slash / at the end so it ends "TemporaryItems/", and yes, there is a space like you did the first time. I'm still looking into the problem, because I dont know if that will fix anything

if you get an error that it doesn't exist. Do a change directory to it. "cd" then path to directory with no options like the -rf. see if it is even there.

[ScotRobson]

EDIT: Hold it, the first time it went though be it didn't find the file directory, give me a second

Second Edit: put a final slash / at the end so it ends "TemporaryItems/", and yes, there is a space like you did the first time.

Tried with / at the end and got the same "Not a directory"

[yellow]

Yeah it doesn't matter if the final slash is there or not. Please post the results of:

ls -laF /tmp/501

yellow% ls -laF /tmp/501
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 3 yellow wheel 102B 25 Sep 08:34 ./
drwxrwxrwt 10 root wheel 340B 25 Sep 08:49 ../
drwxr-xr-x 2 yellow wheel 68B 24 Sep 21:30 TemporaryItems/

[varmit]

Tried with / at the end and got the same "Not a directory"

Change Directory to it. "cd /tmp/501/TemporaryItems"
See if it is even there.

If not, then make directory. "mkdir /tmp/501/TemporaryItems" and try your update again.

[ScotRobson]

Yeah it doesn't matter if the final slash is there or not. Please post the results of:

ls -laF /tmp/501

yellow% ls -laF /tmp/501
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 3 yellow wheel 102B 25 Sep 08:34 ./
drwxrwxrwt 10 root wheel 340B 25 Sep 08:49 ../
drwxr-xr-x 2 yellow wheel 68B 24 Sep 21:30 TemporaryItems/


they look like the letter L (ell) - this is what i got

Edit realised i missed a slash out - tried again and that came back with Not a directory

[ScotRobson]

Change Directory to it. "cd /tmp/501/TemporaryItems"
See if it is even there.

If not, then make directory. "mkdir /tmp/501/TemporaryItems" and try your update again.

Came back with Not a directory for both of these options!

[varmit]

Desktop-G4:~ brando$ ls -laf /tmp/501
total 0
drwx------ 3 brando wheel 102 25 Sep 08:12 .
drwxrwxrwt 14 root wheel 476 25 Sep 08:52 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 brando wheel 68 24 Sep 22:21 TemporaryItems
Desktop-G4:~ brando$


I note that yours has "/" at the end of every line and I don't.

[yellow]

Edit realised i missed a slash out - tried again and that came back with Not a directory

You have to have the leading slash.

ls -laF /tmp/501

you had:

ls -laF tmp/501

A subtle, yet huge difference.

[yellow]

I note that yours has "/" at the end of every line and I don't.

You used the wrong flag. -F shows directories with a trailing /.

[ScotRobson]

You have to have the leading slash.

ls -laF /tmp/501

you had:

ls -laF tmp/501

A subtle, yet huge difference.

Yeah i edited my post to say i tried again with the slash

[ScotRobson]

Try installing them from the file downloads of the patches at apple.com/downloads and see what happens.

Thanks edesignuk I tried this aswell and get "There were errors installing the software" try again

:mad:

[varmit]

You used the wrong flag. -F shows directories with a trailing /.

ok, then just add the /s to the end of my stuff and you have it.
For the first line returned:
His: drwxr-xr-x 3 yellow wheel 102B 25 Sep 08:34 ./
Mine: drwx------ 3 brando wheel 102 25 Sep 08:12 ./

could this be causing this problem, because that is the only difference I see.

[yellow]

Yeah i edited my post to say i tried again with the slash


Ooooooooook.

Let's start from the top then. Give us the results of these:

id
ls -laF /tmp
ls -laF /tmp/

[yellow]

ok, then just add the /s to the end of my stuff and you have it.
For the first line returned:
His: drwxr-xr-x 3 yellow wheel 102B 25 Sep 08:34 ./
Mine: drwx------ 3 brando wheel 102 25 Sep 08:12 ./

could this be causing this problem, because that is the only difference I see.

Actually, "His: drwxr-xr-x 3 yellow wheel 102B 25 Sep 08:34 ./" is mine. I don't know why your /tmp/501 directory is so closed off. That makes it hard for the OS to write to your tmp directory ;)

[ScotRobson]

Ooooooooook.

Let's start from the top then. Give us the results of these:

id
ls -laF /tmp
ls -laF /tmp/

here you go

[yellow]

This is obviously Panther, but that's not right. Not right at all.
Your /tmp directory should be a symbolic link to /private/tmp.


yellow% ls -laF /tmp
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 11 11 Aug 20:36 /tmp@ -> private/tmp


You will notice that your /tmp is a FILE (and a very large one at that (827MB!)), not a directory! This should cause alarm! Please give us the output of:

file /tmp

For future reference, just copy from the terminal and paste into the code tags, no need for screenshots and attaching things. Thanks.

[ScotRobson]

This is obviously Panther, but that's not right. Not right at all.
Your /tmp directory should be a symbolic link to /private/tmp.


yellow% ls -laF /tmp
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 11 11 Aug 20:36 /tmp@ -> private/tmp


You will notice that your /tmp is a FILE (and a very large one at that (827MB!)), not a directory! This should cause alarm! Please give us the output of:

file /tmp

For future reference, just copy from the terminal and paste into the code tags, no need for screenshots and attaching things. Thanks.

Never thought of copy paste lol

SCOT-ROBSONs-Computer:~ srobson$ file /tmp
/tmp: data
SCOT-ROBSONs-Computer:~ srobson$

[yellow]

And please, the output of:

ls -laF /private/tmp

[ScotRobson]

And please, the output of:

ls -laF /private/tmp

SCOT-ROBSONs-Computer:~ srobson$ ls -laF /private/tmp
total 0
drwxrwxrwt 4 root wheel 136 25 Sep 14:12 ./
drwxr-xr-x 5 root wheel 170 25 Sep 10:52 ../
drwxr-xr-x 4 srobson wheel 136 25 Sep 14:12 .Java142Update2.pkg.874.installmTgar3/
drwx------ 3 srobson wheel 102 25 Sep 14:55 501/

[yellow]

Well, you have a couple options here.

What should be a symbolic link is instead a file. A VERY large file. The lack of this symbolic link could be what is causing your troubles (. Now, it's possible that this happened purely by accident. IMO, improbable, but possible. But it could be that your Mac was hacked/cracked/owned and is being used for nefarious purposes. This might be slightly alarmist, as I would hope that a hacker wouldn't do something as stupid as remove the /tmp symlink and replace it with a file. So, there's probably a rational explaination. Ultimately, what you do about all this is up to you. You can

1) back up your data, erase the drive, and reinstall OSX and everything else, make sure you have strong passwords. This is the only way to truely ensure that your Mac is "clean".

2) remove that big ass file and recreate the symlink, and keep going.

Either way, I would start by changing all the passwords on your box as a precaution. Make sure you change them to strong passwords. If you need some ideas on how to make a strong, yet memorable password, let me know.

[ScotRobson]

remove that big ass file and recreate the symlink, and keep going.

Could you advise me how to do this? How do i know what the file is? and recreate the symlink means nothing to me - i'm actually not great on computers - today was the first time ive used the terminal.

Either way, I would start by changing all the passwords on your box as a precaution. Make sure you change them to strong passwords. If you need some ideas on how to make a strong, yet memorable password, let me know.

yes please - feel free to IM me on ichat at my .mac name scotrobson

Do you think this could be why I am having problems logging into my iDisk as mentioned in my other thread which i linked to at the start of this one?

Thanks for all your help
Scot

[yellow]

Could you advise me how to do this? How do i know what the file is? and recreate the symlink means nothing to me - i'm actually not great on computers - today was the first time ive used the terminal.

You could use a text editor to try and look inside that file, but I think ultimately that won't lead you very far if you're not that familiar with computers. You should probably just copy and paste the following commands one at a time, to ensure that they aren't typed in incorrectly:

sudo rm -f /tmp

Enter your admin password. The sudo makes the following command run as the root user. The rm is to remove the file. The -f tells it not to complain to you about whether you really want to remove it.

sudo ln -s /private/tmp /tmp

The sudo makes the following command run as the root user. The ln is to make a link, linking one file/directory to another one, like an alias. The -s tells ln to make it a symbolic link, used for directories. Then we tell it the source directory, and the destination "directory".

It would be prudent to restart the computer then, this will let anything looking for /tmp find it again. After rebooting and logging in, check /tmp out.

ls -laF /tmp

It should look something like this:

yellow% ls -laF /tmp
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 11 11 Aug 20:36 /tmp@ -> private/tmp


Here's a link to "How to create a strong password" (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=90391).

[ScotRobson]

Is the big file something that I have put there? Will it be something I have downloaded do you think? I'm just a little worried about what i am deleting. Or is it something that should really not be there?

[yellow]

Or is it something that should really not be there?

It should not be there. /tmp is supposed to be a symlink (symbolic link) to /private/tmp/. Not an 800+MB file. Whatever is it, it should not be. I have no idea if it's something you've done, something an app has incorectly done or what. All I can tell you is that it should not be.

[ScotRobson]

It should not be there. /tmp is supposed to be a symlink (symbolic link) to /private/tmp/. Not an 800+MB file. Whatever is it, it should not be. I have no idea if it's something you've done, something an app has incorectly done or what. All I can tell you is that it should not be.

Ok, many thanks - this was my result

SCOT-ROBSONs-Computer:~ srobson$ sudo rm -f /tmp
Password:
SCOT-ROBSONs-Computer:~ srobson$ sudo ln -s /private/tmp /tmp
SCOT-ROBSONs-Computer:~ srobson$ ls -laF /tmp
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 12 25 Sep 16:09 /tmp@ -> /private/tmp

I have changed my system password, my .mac account password and both my email passwords that use mail - I am unable to change the p/w for my router though as it is not accepting my old one! :eek:

I decided to go for option 2 and change my passwords as I am getting a new mac in a couple of weeks. Once that has arrived and I have transfered my files to the new one (music, pics etc) I will reinstall this one.

Does that sound ok?

[yellow]

Yep. Go ahead and try to do your Software Update now, it better work! :)

[ScotRobson]

Yep. Go ahead and try to do your Software Update now, it better work! :)

Your a magician! Both updates done now. Just gonna reboot :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Thank you so much for taking the time to talk me through all of this. I really appreciate it.

Scot

[ScotRobson]

Yep. Go ahead and try to do your Software Update now, it better work! :)

You have also solved another problem for me! Virex was telling me I didnt have enough space to download the eupdate and now that has worked too!

[ScotRobson]

Ooooooooooooh and my iDisk problem is now solved!

I'm so happy :D