[tex-live] tlmgr: permissions on /tmp/texlive.tlpdb.lzma

[Dr. Clea F. Rees]

What role does /tmp/texlive.tlpdb.lzma play?

The reason I ask is that if I run tlmgr with root privileges e.g. to do
"tlmgr update --all" and later run it without e.g. to do "tlmgr update
--list" or "tlmgr list", I get a message complaining that permissions
are denied for /tmp/texlive.tlpdb.lzma. The permissions are 0644 with
ownership root:wheel. I assume that tlmgr wants to replace
/tmp/texlive.tlpdb.lzma or something similar rather than just reading
it.

The commands seem to work anyway - I still get listings - but I'm
wondering if it would prevent me from getting updated listings, for
example, if tlmgr will be forced to rely on a stale copy of
/tmp/texlive.tlpdb.lzma because it cannot be replaced.

I don't have a clue what /tmp/texlive.tlpdb.lzma does, though, so the
concern could be entirely misguided and the error purely cosmetic.

Thanks,
cfr