FAQs for Installing R, RStudio, and TinyTeX
@ Kellogg School of Management
1. /usr/local/bin not writable
I see this error when I install TinyTeX:
add_link_dir_dir: destination /usr/local/bin not writable, no links from /Users/hagen/Library/TinyTeX/bin/x86_64-darwin. add of symlinks had 1 error(s), see messages above. add of symlinks had 1 error(s), see messages above. tlmgr: An error has occurred. See above messages. Exiting.
This is an issue on some Macs, where that folder /usr/local/bin is not writable by your user account for some reason. Here's how to fix it:
- You should have tab called "Terminal" next to your Console tab in the lower right corner of your RStudio window. Click on this Terminal tab.
- Paste in the following command and press Enter (if typing, be mindful of the backticks around "whoami" which can be found on the top left key of the keyboard):
sudo chown -R `whoami`:admin /usr/local/bin
- When it asks for your password, type in the password you use to get into the computer (it may be your Apple ID password). The password prompt will not show any placeholder characters/asterisks, so you'll have to type on faith.
- Press Enter to finish.
When successful, it will say nothing and show the Terminal prompt again.