Cannot update Stata 18

[Ararat Gocmen]

Since updating to StataMP 18.0, I have not been able to install any updates using the "update all" command.

. update all
(contacting https://www.stata.com)

downloading executable files ... error extracting contents from /Applications/Stata/.tmp/bins/StataMP.zip
r(603);

Using the "ls" command, I can see that I do not have write access to the relevant file:

. ls /Applications/Stata/.tmp/bins/StataMP.zip

-rw-r--r-- 1 araratgocmen admin 152297875 Jan 1 19:21 /Applications/Stata/.tmp/bins/StataMP.zip

I then try to add write permissions to this directory using the chmod command on my Unix terminal:

. ls /Applications/Stata/.tmp/bins/StataMP.zip

-rw-rw-r-- 1 araratgocmen admin 152297875 Jan 1 19:21 /Applications/Stata/.tmp/bins/StataMP.zip

However, when I try running the "update all" command again, I get the same error as before:

. update all
(contacting https://www.stata.com)

downloading executable files ... error extracting contents from /Applications/Stata/.tmp/bins/Stata
> MP.zip
r(603);

The error seems to still occur again because the "update all" command resets the write permissions:

. ls /Applications/Stata/.tmp/bins/StataMP.zip

-rw-r--r-- 1 araratgocmen admin 152297875 Jan 1 19:33 /Applications/Stata/.tmp/bins/StataMP.zip

Could you please help me fix this problem so that I can update Stata again? Thanks in advance!

[Daniel Schaefer]

Well, presumably each time you -update all- Stata downloads a new copy of the file which replaces the old copy on the disk. So it's not that the permissions are being reset exactly, it's that you are looking at a new copy of the .zip.

Based on what we see here, I'm not sure this is a permissions issue in the first place. You might try navigating to that directory in the terminal and extracting the .zip yourself. The .zip is probably set up so that it will replace certain binaries or other files in your Stata installation when you unzip from the correct parent directory. Even if you can't successfully extract the content of the .zip from the terminal, you might get a more informative error message.

Be sure to back up your existing installation since this could potentially be destructive.

Edit: the reason I don't think this is necessarily a permissions problem is that the file is downloaded by Stata, which may write data as a different user than your account, depending on the operating system you are using.

[Ararat Gocmen]

Thank you for your reply! I see your point about why it probably isn't a permissions issue.

It sounds like there is no obvious way to address this issue. Would it be easiest to just un-install and then re-install Stata?

[Daniel Schaefer]

Yes, that would probably be the easiest way to resolve the issue.

[Carlo Lazzaro]

Ararat:
I would consider emailing Stata tech about this issue.

[Guy Lacroix]

I had the same problem (Mac OS)

1. Open a terminal.
2. Go to /Applications/Stata
3. Go to .tmp (the dot is important, it is a hidden directory)
4. rm -Rf * (remove everything)
5. Update

Voilà. It should work. Stata would not write in /Applications/Stata/.tmp because the directory was not empty.

[Julie Wang]

Thank you Guy! I had the same issue and this solution fixed it for me.