From http://fink.sourceforge.net/faq/usage-fink.php?phpLang=en#non-admin-installer

Q5.34: I can’t install Fink via the Installer package, because I get “volume doesn’t support symlinks” errors.

A: This message commonly means that you’ve tried to run the Fink installer as user who doesn’t have administrative privileges. Make sure to log in at the login screen as such a user or switch to such a user in the Finder (i.e. fast user switching) before starting the Fink installer.

If you’re having trouble even when using an admin account, then it’s likely a problem with the permissions on your top-level directory. Use Apple’s Disk Utility, select the hard drive in question, choose the First Aid tab, and press Repair Disk Permissions.

I tried that first, and guess what? It didn’t work. How’s about fixing the installer instead of proving why you’re not wrong?

Thank you Involution admin for this tip it solved my problem in only 20 seconds after I had started to google. I guessed this was something to do with my user not being admin (what else would create what was clearly a permissions error since I know full well I can make symlinks?) It saved me the trouble of examining the process table :D

It’s completley unacceptable that the Fink people do not allow their installer to authenticate to an administrator user just like every other installer I’ve ever used does. Shame on you Fink people for being lame newbies, go back to debian!

Also it’s worth noting that the guy Involution guy is using “sudo” so his user where he is typing this must be an admin? On my machine I have to become an admin user first via su to use sudo in this fashion (as it happens I keep a root window open on OS X with my normal user, avoiding the need for sudo at all).

You do not need to be an admin in the OS X sense, just need to have your name in the /etc/sudoers file to use sudo. Checkout the man page for visudo

Blame Apple’s Installer.app…authentication only happens *after* the test-script hooks are called. If a test runs (and fails) after authentication, there is no decent facility for an error message.

> Blame Apple’s Installer.app…authentication only happens *after* the test-script hooks are called. If a test runs (and fails) after authentication, there is no decent facility for an error message.

I don’t get why this is an Apple installer problem. Regardless of when it runs, the test-script itself is something the developers provide, is it not? If you want to test for symlinks, just do the test in /tmp. Touch a name, symlink it to another name, test for success with ls. It seems like a bug to be trying to write to a directory before you *know* you will be authorized to do so.

Installing fink on OS X 10.5 now (2008-07-31), and I still get the same problem. Running installer manually worked, but note that the name is uncapitalized:

> installer -pkg …

Thanks!

@atamar it used to be capitalized on Tiger. Thanks for the update though.

I am so glad that I stumbled across this page. I could not for the life of me figure out why I was getting these permission errors, considering I was using the only (admin) account on my computer.

Thanks!

Thank you. This was still helpful! One of these days they’ll actually fix it.

Hi…I was running into the same issue and the suggested fix worked great!! Thanks for sharing. I was wondering if you could tell me what I need to change if I am installing fink for “all users”.