# Unusual Error in Julia

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062>\
**Category:** New to Julia\
**Tags:** question\
**Created:** [October 17, 2023, 11:54am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062 "2023-10-17T11:54:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tomberrrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@tomberrrington](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/tomberrrington)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2023, 11:54am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062/1 "2023-10-17T11:54:21Z")

</div>

Whenever I download Julia I get the error “ArgumentError: “/private/tmp/PKInstallSandbox.21we0o/tmp” is not a directory”

Does anyone know I can get around this so that I can download pluto

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**Author:** ![abraemer](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/abraemer/32/51403_2.png) [@abraemer](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/abraemer)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2023, 12:00pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062/2 "2023-10-17T12:00:34Z")

</div>

Welcome to the discourse! 😄 Your post is missing some important information like what Julia version are you running, what was the precise command you tried to enter and how did you install/setup Julia.

I also recommend having a look at

> [@Please read: make it easier to help you](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/please-read-make-it-easier-to-help-you/14757):
>
> Welcome to the Julia Discourse! We are enthusiastic about helping Julia programmers, both beginner and experienced. This public service announcement (PSA) outlines best practices when asking for help. Following these points makes it easier for us to help you and more likely you’ll get a prompt, useful answer. Keywords are highlighted to make it easier to refer to specific points. Choose a descriptive title that captures the key part of your question, eg “plots with multiple axes” instead of …

---

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**Author:** ![kevbonham](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/kevbonham/32/216165_2.png) [@kevbonham](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/kevbonham)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2023, 12:10pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062/3 "2023-10-17T12:10:22Z")

</div>

> [@tomberrrington](#):
>
> Whenever I download Julia I get the error

In particular, I’ll note also that the error you posted looks like a Julia error, so you must have tried to run something. So what you tried to run or do is important information beyond just downloading Julia.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tomberrrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@tomberrrington](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/tomberrrington)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2023, 12:10pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062/4 "2023-10-17T12:10:32Z")

</div>

It is Julia 1.9.3 and I installed Julia through [Download Julia](https://julialang.org/downloads/)

Finally I entered the command:  
julia\> ]  
(v1.7) pkg\> add Pluto

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![abraemer](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/abraemer/32/51403_2.png) [@abraemer](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/abraemer)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2023, 12:14pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062/5 "2023-10-17T12:14:01Z")

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The `(v1.7)` tells me you are likely running Julia 1.7 (or activated an environment with the name “v1.7”). So something went wrong with your installation and you are now executing an old version of Julia. Maybe try deleting all old julia stuff and then try to use [juliaup](https://github.com/JuliaLang/juliaup) for easy installation.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GenerallyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c37758/32.png) [@GenerallyClueless](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/GenerallyClueless)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2023, 5:47pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062/6 "2023-10-17T17:47:40Z")

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I would recommend using Juliaup as the method to install and upgrade Julia.

[https://github.com/JuliaLang/juliaup](https://github.com/JuliaLang/juliaup)

I had a lot of difficulty trying to get a working environment… until I used Juliaup. Particularly with VSCode. There always seemed to be a path problem because VSCode would not keep my path after I made changes to it (as well as in VSCode settings). Also, it always seemed that I was in a different environment.

Juliaup helped to simplify everything and made it very easy for me to manage.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tomberrrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@tomberrrington](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/tomberrrington)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2023, 12:06pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062/7 "2023-10-21T12:06:05Z")

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Hi all,  
Thank you for your help. I have tried Juliaup however I am still getting the same issues.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BioTurboNick](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/bioturbonick/32/6380_2.png) [@BioTurboNick](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/BioTurboNick)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2023, 12:54pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062/8 "2023-10-21T12:54:28Z")

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Along with the error should have been a “Stacktrace”. That will be very helpful to provide, along with the system you are running on. `versioninfo()` inside Julia can provide that.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mkitti](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mkitti/32/12459_2.png) [@mkitti](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mkitti)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2023, 1:23pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062/9 "2023-10-21T13:23:05Z")

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I do not understand how “private/tmp/PKInstallSandbox.21we0o/tmp” would arise for Julia. This implies the use of an installer, but Julia is distributed via dmg on mac.

We also missing what happens between downloading Julia and when you get the error? Do you double click on something? Use the terminal?

What happens when you open a terminal and invoke `julia`? Or `juliaup`?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![g-gundam](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/g-gundam/32/47593_2.png) [@g-gundam](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/g-gundam)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 9:56pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062/10 "2023-10-22T21:56:39Z")

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Like others have said, that `(v1.7)` is a sign that you’re not running Julia 1.9.3 as intended. What happens when you type:

```bash
which julia

```

Also try this:

```bash
juliaup status

```

This may help us figure out what’s going on. In the meanwhile, I hope doing this will give you 1.9.3:

```bash
~/.juliaup/bin/julia

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![StevenSiew](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/stevensiew/32/218393_2.png) [@StevenSiew](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/StevenSiew)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 9:01am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062/11 "2023-10-23T09:01:52Z")

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> [@tomberrrington](#):
>
> It is Julia 1.9.3 and I installed Julia through [Download Julia](https://julialang.org/downloads/)
> 
> Finally I entered the command:  
> julia\> ]  
> (v1.7) pkg\> add Pluto

What OS are you running?

1. Windows
2. Mac
3. Linux

What do you get when you run this on the commandline?

```julia
$ julia
               _
   _ _ _(_)_ | Documentation: https://docs.julialang.org
  (_) | (_) (_) |
   _ _ _| |_ __ _ | Type "?" for help, "]?" for Pkg help.
  | | | | | | |/ _` | |
  | | |_| | | | (_| | | Version 1.9.3 (2023-08-24)
 _/ |\ __'_|_|_|\__'_| | Official https://julialang.org/ release
|__/ |

```

What happens when you do this?

```julia
$ which julia
/usr/local/bin/julia

$ ls -l /usr/local/bin/julia
lrwxr-xr-x 1 ssiew admin 62 8 Jun 18:16 /usr/local/bin/julia -> /Applications/Julia-1.9.app/Contents/Resources/julia/bin/julia

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tomberrrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@tomberrrington](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/tomberrrington)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 9:10am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062/12 "2023-10-23T09:10:09Z")

</div>

Hi very sorry that was a miscommunication because I was copying the code that I was inputing the Julia that I am running is 1.9.3 not 1.7

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tomberrrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@tomberrrington](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/tomberrrington)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 9:11am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062/13 "2023-10-23T09:11:21Z")

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[quote=“StevenSiew, post:11, topic:105062”]

```julia
$ which julia
/usr/local/bin/julia

```

when i put in that first bit I received " **ERROR:** syntax: extra token “julia” after end of expression

Stacktrace:

[1] top-level scope

@ none:1"

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tomberrrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@tomberrrington](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/tomberrrington)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 9:12am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062/14 "2023-10-23T09:12:00Z")

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I believe that I am running Mac

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mkitti](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mkitti/32/12459_2.png) [@mkitti](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mkitti)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 11:46am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062/15 "2023-10-23T11:46:03Z")

</div>

While you may be intending to run Julia 1.9.3, you are in fact running Julia 1.7. We see this when you run the Pkg REPL.

I recommend that you first uninstall all versions of Julia from your system. Make sure that trying ti run Julia results in an error afterwards. Perhaps you tried installing Julia a while ago and forgot about it. Maybe you used Homebrew?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BioTurboNick](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/bioturbonick/32/6380_2.png) [@BioTurboNick](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/BioTurboNick)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 12:47pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062/16 "2023-10-23T12:47:25Z")

</div>

The `$` indicates that the command should be run in the shell terminal, not within Julia.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![StevenSiew](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/stevensiew/32/218393_2.png) [@StevenSiew](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/StevenSiew)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 1:38pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062/17 "2023-10-23T13:38:10Z")

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> I believe that I am running Mac

You believe? You don’t know what kind of machine you have?

Open a terminal on your Mac and type these  
 ![aaa](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/e/e/ee167760419fe0af31e53b93fc010f5f1457e5d3.png)

[https://www.idownloadblog.com/2019/04/19/ways-open-terminal-mac/](https://www.idownloadblog.com/2019/04/19/ways-open-terminal-mac/)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![StevenSiew](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/stevensiew/32/218393_2.png) [@StevenSiew](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/StevenSiew)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 2:00pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062/18 "2023-10-23T14:00:51Z")

</div>

In the juliaup website [GitHub - JuliaLang/juliaup: Julia installer and version multiplexer](https://github.com/JuliaLang/juliaup)

![Screen Shot 2023-10-24 at 12.58.22 AM](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/3/e/3ee9bc728bb4747524d86e179d300afbbfada1f5.png)

You have to consider that a lot of users on a Mac does not know **what a shell is** , much less how to open a shell

Perhaps you need to add instructions on how to open a terminal before the user can even type in the magical commands above.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mkitti](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mkitti/32/12459_2.png) [@mkitti](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mkitti)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 2:12pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062/19 "2023-10-23T14:12:19Z")

</div>

I think we may need to address that there is an existing Julia install from a foreign source on the system in question. Thus I’m recommending we make we make sure to clear out any existing Julia install which may be interferring with a new install.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![StevenSiew](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/stevensiew/32/218393_2.png) [@StevenSiew](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/StevenSiew)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 2:16pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062/20 "2023-10-23T14:16:33Z")

</div>

> I think we may need to address that there is an existing Julia install from a foreign source on the system in question. Thus I’m recommending we make we make sure to clear out any existing Julia install which may be interferring with a new install.

There are multiple issues here

1. (Latest version of) Julia not installed properly
2. Old version of Julia installed, interfering with latest version of Julia
3. The instructions to install Julia not clear on “Julia Download” webpage. The hyperlink ([Platform Specific Instructions for Official Binaries](https://julialang.org/downloads/platform/)) is not next to the latest Julia version but is located further down the webpage.
4. Juliaup website not giving Mac users, step by step instructions to install juliaup

[Next page](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/unusual-error-in-julia/105062.md?page=2)