Can't upgrade Homebrew packages, "directory not empty"

Question

We use JAMF at work to manage our Macs. It sucks, but it's a security thing. We've hacked the Homebrew install script so that it can be run from a company "App Store" that is provided by JAMF.

We set the ownership of everything to $USER:staff. These are single-user MacBook Pro M1s.

Installation of new packages works without a problem, but upgrading or uninstalling does not.

For example, here's an attempt to upgrade Swift...

COLOSSUS ~ » brew upgrade swift
Warning: Treating swift as a formula. For the cask, use homebrew/cask/swift
==> Upgrading 1 outdated package:
swift 5.5.3 -> 5.6
==> Downloading https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core/swift/manifests/5.6
Already downloaded: /Users/guardian/Library/Caches/Homebrew/downloads/9ce4cd102ee58df196a8a42ec3f05c90ae4b6c9b72a14481e787a67516332da8--swift-5.6.bottle_manifest.json
==> Downloading https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core/swift/blobs/sha256:a6879aa65421
Already downloaded: /Users/guardian/Library/Caches/Homebrew/downloads/351c1cf2d05ce75eee1ac5bc590266d57336ca24708c772d5408e783b4d00952--swift--5.6.arm64_monterey.bottle.tar.gz
==> Upgrading swift
  5.5.3 -> 5.6

==> Pouring swift--5.6.arm64_monterey.bottle.tar.gz
^@Error: Directory not empty @ dir_s_rmdir - /private/tmp/d20220408-7181-1rfjuz6

The /private/tmp/d20220408-7181-1rfjuz6 directory ends up being owned by ${USER}:wheel, so that may be the issue. Even if I use our script and set the group to wheel recursively, I still get the same error.

This is baffling, as I can install Homebrew the usual way (which uses group wheel) and upgrades/uninstalls work fine.

Any thoughts on what may be happening?

Answer 1

Your best bet is to do sudo chown -R "$USER":admin /private/tmp/d20220408-7181-1rfjuz6.