If you work with Macintosh computers and administer a Macintosh network probably you would like to know what is in the temporary folders, inside the /var/folders/zz folder.
You can read about this from James Reynold page: http://www.magnusviri.com/Mac/what-is-var-folders.html
If some kind of way you have magical permission problems, like download and / or install updates from App Store, or download your iTunes shoppings, or few application permanently asking your admin username and password… thenmaybe you have a permission problem in the /var/folders/zz folder. This is THE temp foder for the whole macOS system.
ls -la /var/folders
After hitting Enter, you can see something similar:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 8 root wheel 272 Sze 14 23:42 .
drwxr-xr-x 31 root wheel 1054 Aug 28 00:45 ..
drwxr-xr-x@ 3 root wheel 102 Dec 17 2016 mr
drwxr-xr-x@ 3 root wheel 102 Aug 28 00:44 p8
drwxr-xr-x@ 3 root wheel 102 Dec 19 2016 rv
drwxr-xr-x@ 3 root wheel 102 Dec 19 2016 sc
drwxr-xr-x@ 3 root wheel 102 Sze 14 23:42 vm
drwxr-xr-x@ 25 root wheel 850 Jún 14 23:36 zz
If you go into the folder "zz" and LS the content, you could see something like this:
total 40
drwxr-xr-x@ 40 root wheel 1360 31 Aug 15:49 .
drwxr-xr-x 9 root wheel 306 15 Sep 21:56 ..
-rw-r--r--@ 1 root wheel 18436 29 Aug 22:33 .DS_Store
drwxrwxr-x@ 6 root wheel 204 28 Okt 2015 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000
drwxr-xr-x 3 _networkd _networkd 102 28 Okt 2015 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n000003000000r
drwxr-xr-x 3 _lp _lp 102 28 Okt 2015 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n000003800000t
drwxr-xr-x 4 _appleevents _appleevents 136 28 Okt 2015 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n000006w00001q
drwxr-xr-x 4 _mdnsresponder _mdnsresponder 136 28 Okt 2015 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000084000021
drwxr-xr-x 4 _spotlight _spotlight 136 28 Okt 2015 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000b400002s
drwxr-xr-x 4 _securityagent _securityagent 136 28 Okt 2015 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000bh00002w
drwxr-xr-x 4 _atsserver _atsserver 136 28 Okt 2015 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000c4000031
drwxr-xr-x 4 _softwareupdate _softwareupdate 136 28 Okt 2015 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000s0000068
drwxr-xr-x 4 _coreaudiod _coreaudiod 136 28 Okt 2015 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000s800006_
drwxr-xr-x 4 _locationd _locationd 136 28 Okt 2015 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000sm00006d
drwxr-xr-x 4 _cvmsroot _cvms 136 28 Okt 2015 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000th00006m
drwxr-xr-x 3 _usbmuxd _usbmuxd 102 28 Okt 2015 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000tm00006n
drwxr-xr-x 4 _netbios _netbios 136 28 Okt 2015 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000vr00006y
drwxr-xr-x 4 _assetcache _assetcache 136 28 Okt 2015 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000xc00007b
drwxr-xr-x 4 _iconservices _iconservices 136 28 Okt 2015 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000y000007h
drwxr-xr-x 3 _distnote _distnote 102 28 Okt 2015 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000y400007j
drwxr-xr-x 4 _nsurlsessiond _nsurlsessiond 136 15 Sep 20:51 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000y800007k
drwxr-xr-x 3 _nsurlstoraged _nsurlstoraged 102 28 Okt 2015 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000yc00007l
drwxr-xr-x@ 5 _mbsetupuser _mbsetupuser 170 27 Aug 22:00 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000z000007r
drwxr-xr-x@ 5 _datadetectors _datadetectors 170 31 Aug 15:49 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000104000081
drwxr-xr-x@ 5 _captiveagent _captiveagent 170 27 Aug 21:59 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000108000082
drwxr-xr-x@ 5 _ctkd _ctkd 170 27 Aug 21:58 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n000010c000083
drwxr-xr-x@ 5 _applepay _applepay 170 27 Aug 22:00 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n000010h000084
drwxr-xr-x@ 5 _hidd _hidd 170 27 Aug 21:58 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n000010m000085
drwxr-xr-x 5 root wheel 170 16 Okt 2015 zzzivhrRnAmviuee+++++++++++
drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 17 Okt 2015 zzzivhrRnAmviuee++++4U+++-c
drwxr-xr-x 4 root wheel 136 13 Okt 2015 zzzivhrRnAmviuee++++EE+++22
drwxr-xr-x 4 root wheel 136 13 Okt 2015 zzzivhrRnAmviuee++++KE+++3Y
drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 9 Mär 2013 zzzivhrRnAmviuee++++L++++3k
drwxr-xr-x 4 root wheel 136 13 Okt 2015 zzzivhrRnAmviuee++++ME+++42
drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 13 Okt 2015 zzzivhrRnAmviuee++++mU+++Ac
drwxr-xr-x 4 root wheel 136 3 Aug 2015 zzzivhrRnAmviuee++++nE+++Ao
drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 16 Mär 2013 zzzivhrRnAmviuee++++o++++B+
drwxr-xr-x 4 root wheel 136 13 Okt 2015 zzzivhrRnAmviuee++++p++++BE
drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 13 Okt 2015 zzzivhrRnAmviuee++++pE+++BI
drwxr-xr-x 4 root wheel 136 24 Okt 2015 zzzivhrRnAmviueezzzzzjzzzzs
Take a look to the owners and the groups… If you don't see this, then you found your problem. The folder names looks like random but each folder on each Macintosh has the same owner and owner group. For example if you have problem with your Software Update from the App Store, check the folder named "zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000s0000068". the _softwareupdate user and the _softwareupdate group should be set for it. If the folder missing, then create it and then set the user:group.
_softwareupdate _softwareupdate 136 28 Okt 2015 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000s0000068
To do it in the Terminal:
mkdir /var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000s0000068
sudo chown _softwareupdate:_softwareupdate /var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000s0000068
sudo chmod 755 /var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000s0000068
If you have many of these folder wrong and would like to use a GUI App for set the correct owners/groups/access rights you can use BatChmod app: http://www.lagentesoft.com/batchmod/index.html or direct downlowd: http://www.lagentesoft.com/resources/batchmod_17b5.zip
Take really care, with BatChmod you can destroy the complete permission system of your computer. If you do something wrong, your Mac won't start anymore and you have to do lot of work in Recovery Mode (start the computer with Command+R ) and in the Terminal.
Sources:
http://www.magnusviri.com/Mac/what-is-var-folders.html
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/cant-install-10-10-1-please-help.1822283/