could not set effective gid to 0

[dpawlows@…]

I know that people are still trying to figure out all the issues with Xcode 4.3, but I had no choices but to move on to 4.4 as my hard drive died yesterday and was replaced. I can install macports, but um unable to install any ports due to what seems like a privileges issue. I.e.:

sudo port install gnuplot
...
--->  Fetching archive for aquaterm
Error: org.macports.archivefetch for port aquaterm returned: could not set effective gid to 0
Error: Failed to install aquaterm
...

Relevant lines from the log file:

:msg:archivefetch --->  Fetching archive for aquaterm
:debug:archivefetch Executing org.macports.archivefetch (aquaterm)
:debug:archivefetch Can't run archivefetch on this port without elevated privileges. Escalating privileges back to root.
:error:archivefetch org.macports.archivefetch for port aquaterm returned: could not set effective gid to 0
:debug:archivefetch Error code: NONE
:debug:archivefetch Backtrace: could not set effective gid to 0
    while executing

So despite running it as root, I'm not running it as root?

[dpawlows@…]

Cc Me!

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

Please remember to use WikiFormatting, to fill in the Port field, and to Cc the maintainer of that port. Cc'ing yourself is not needed when you are the reporter.

Yes, despite you running as root (or using "sudo"), most of MacPorts does not run as root; it drops privileges to an unprivileged user (the "macports" user).

MacPorts works fine with the versions of Xcode listed on our install page, which includes 4.3 and 4.4.

Please "sudo port clean gnuplot", then try again, then attach the main.log file if it fails again, so that we can see everything that happened.

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

Eh, wrong port, aquaterm not gnuplot.

[dpawlows@…]

Fair enough. The issue isn't with aquaterm, that will install. Port is having trouble installing dependencies or something. For example, I did a

sudo port install aquaterm

which worked. Then I tried installing gnuplot again and I got the same error, only for expat. So I installed expat sucessfully, tried gnuplot again, and this time it chokes when trying to install bzip2. I've attached the log from that attempt.

This issue pops up when I try and install any port with dependencies so far, such as emacs23, texlive, and ghostscript.

[dave@…]

FWIW, I am reproducing the results of dpawlows@…

[dave@…]

It’s probably not a wise idea, but setting

macportsuser root

in macports.conf works around the problem.