[Octave-bug-tracker] [bug #60912] Installing with installer corrupts permissions on temporary directory (temp / tmp)

[Arthur Tacca]

URL:
  <https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?60912>

                 Summary: Installing with installer corrupts permissions on
temporary directory (temp / tmp)
                 Project: GNU Octave
            Submitted by: arthur_tacca
            Submitted on: Mon 12 Jul 2021 10:44:13 AM UTC
                Category: None
                Severity: 3 - Normal
                Priority: 5 - Normal
              Item Group: None
                  Status: None
             Assigned to: None
         Originator Name: 
        Originator Email: 
             Open/Closed: Open
                 Release: 6.2.0
         Discussion Lock: Any
        Operating System: Microsoft Windows

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Details:

I installed GNU Octave 6.2.0 on Windows 10 Pro using the installer program
octave-6.2.0-w64-installer.exe. I installed for all users, so the installer
elevated to admin permission and successfully installed Octave. Almost
immediately, odd problems started appearing throughout my system, including MS
Outlook crashing when I attempted to open an attachment, Octave complained
that it failed to set up local documentation, and the uninstaller for an old
version of Octave (4.2.0) refused to run. (Incidentally I don't think I've had
this problem before, so that indicates it must have been introduced some time
after 4.2.0.)

I soon pinned down the problem: my system temporary directory had had its
security permissions changed. I could see existing files in it but not create
new ones. I use a temp directory on a different physical drive (D: rather than
C:) so, unlike a normal Windows installation where the admin account is the
owner (presumably?), the owner of my temp directory is just user level
permission (because I made the directory myself and never specifically set the
permissions). This had been changed to the point that when I opened the user
permissions dialog in Explorer it complained about rules being in an invalid
order so some wouldn't take effect, and asked if I would like to fix them -
when I answered yes it then said there was an error attempting to do this.
After fiddling for a while unsuccessfully, I ended up renaming the directory
to something else and making a fresh directory with the original name. That
seemed to fix all issues.

At this point I hadn't made the connection with the Octave installer (in fact
I feared drive corruption) but I realised I had wanted to install Octave to a
different place (my D: drive) so I uninstalled and reinstalled it. At that
point the same thing happened again, so I think the installer must be the
source of the problem.




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