Note: Applies to RTI Connext DDS versions 5.2.0 - 6.0.1

Preamble

Umask is a setting on linux systems which determines the default file permissions when files are created.

For the purposes of this article, a “restrictive” umask is one which blocks all read permissions for the Linux user category “others”, meaning users which are not the current user nor in the current user’s group. Examples of such masks are 0027 and 0077.

For the purposes of this article, a “permissive” umask is one which allows read permissions for others. An example of such a mask is 0022.

In order to see your system’s current umask, just type the command umask on the command line. For example:

$ umask
0027 

In order to change your system’s current umask, just type the command umask on the command line, passing the desired umask as an argument. For example:

$ umask 0022

Problem

When using certain restrictive umask settings, the RTI Connext installer may cause the GNOME desktop environment to lock up and prevent access to the desktop environment of a device.

RTI installers normally require read permissions for the “others” category and it is known that the commonly used umasks 0027 and 0077 can trigger this installer issue.

# Use the umask command to see your current umask setting. Write it down.
$ umask
# Change the setting to be more permissive. Something like 0022
$ umask 0022
# Run the installer.
$ ./rti_connext_dds-installer.run
# Restore your umask.
$ umask 0027       

Solution

This issue is resolved with the 6.1.0 release of Connext.