Mac Terminal - 'pointer being freed was not allocated' error when opening terminal

Question

I get the following message when opening the terminal on mac

Last login: Tue Mar 11 14:33:24 on console login(291,0x7fff78af9310) malloc: * error for object 0x7f974be006f0: pointer being freed was not allocated * set a breakpoint in malloc_error_break to debug

[Process completed]

... and I don't seem to be able to escape it. I've been having some weird permissions problems with Adobe CC - could the two be symptoms of a single problem?

Answer 1

It looks like you don't have the right permissions on the /usr/bin directory.

Solution for OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) and later:

1. Install Onyx 3.1.3 app (Free analog of Disk Utility)
2. Choose 'Maintenance' -> 'Permissions' -> 'Execute'.

Solution for older versions of OS X:

• Open 'Disk Utility' app -> Press 'Repair Disk Permissions'.

It will set default permissions for the /usr/bin directory.
If this step doesn't help try this:

• Delete com.apple.terminal.plist from the ~/Library/Preferences folder;

Answer 2

Running on Mac OS X Mavericks just

• Open "Disk Utility" app -> Press "Repair Disk Permissions"

Solved the problem

I couldn't find any com.apple.terminal.plist in the ~/Library/Preference folder