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hermes - 💡(How to fix) Fix Path guard blocks write_file in temp dirs on macOS (/private/var/folders) [1 pull requests]

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Error Message

{"error": "Refusing to write to sensitive system path: /private/var/folders/5t/qbf8ztks7m5b47fvps21ys4w0000gn/T/pytest-…/sample.txt\nUse the terminal tool with sudo if you need to modify system files."}

Root Cause

On macOS, /tmp and /var/tmp are symlinks to /private/tmp and /private/var/tmp respectively. Pytest's tmp_path resolves to /private/var/folders/…, which triggers the _SENSITIVE_PATH_PREFIXES check.

The guard is too aggressive: it catches legitimate temp directory paths used by tests.

Fix Action

Fixed

Code Example

{"error": "Refusing to write to sensitive system path: /private/var/folders/5t/qbf8ztks7m5b47fvps21ys4w0000gn/T/pytest-…/sample.txt\nUse the terminal tool with sudo if you need to modify system files."}
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Bug Description

The path guard in tools/file_tools.py blocks write_file calls to paths under /private/var/folders/… on macOS, flagging them as "sensitive system paths".

This causes all test_edit_approval.py tests that use handle_function_call("write_file", …) to fail on macOS, since pytest's tmp_path fixture creates temporary directories under /private/var/folders/.

Error

{"error": "Refusing to write to sensitive system path: /private/var/folders/5t/qbf8ztks7m5b47fvps21ys4w0000gn/T/pytest-…/sample.txt\nUse the terminal tool with sudo if you need to modify system files."}

Root Cause

On macOS, /tmp and /var/tmp are symlinks to /private/tmp and /private/var/tmp respectively. Pytest's tmp_path resolves to /private/var/folders/…, which triggers the _SENSITIVE_PATH_PREFIXES check.

The guard is too aggressive: it catches legitimate temp directory paths used by tests.

Affected Tests

All tests in tests/acp/test_edit_approval.py that use tmp_path + handle_function_call("write_file", …).

Environment

  • macOS 12.7.6 (x86_64)
  • Hermes Agent v0.14.0

Suggested Fix

Allow writes to macOS temp directories (under /private/var/folders/ or $TMPDIR).

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