Mds: (Error) Import over and over in system.log?

Question

I am currently watching my system.log file fill up with stuff like this:
Feb 26 09:43:54 Zeus mds[47]: (Error) Import: importer:0x861800 Importer start failed for 501 (kr:268435459 (ipc/send) invalid destination port)
Feb 26 09:44:24: --- last message repeated 7 times ---
Feb 26 09:44:26 Zeus mds[47]: (Error) Import: importer:0x861800 Importer start failed for 501 (kr:268435459 (ipc/send) invalid destination port)
Feb 26 09:44:56: --- last message repeated 7 times ---
Feb 26 09:44:58 Zeus mds[47]: (Error) Import: importer:0x861800 Importer start failed for 501 (kr:268435459 (ipc/send) invalid destination port)
Feb 26 09:45:28: --- last message repeated 7 times ---
As you can see from the time intervals, it's happening a lot, over and over. I found some references to an error like this supposedly being caused by Time Machine, but I have Time Machine turned off. (Don't like it.)
Anyone know what this is? Looking back through the log, I'm seeing that it has happened multiple times in the past, for anywhere from 15 minutes at a time to over an hour.

Answer 1

This looks like a permission problem to me.
Can you execute the following commands in a terminal and post them?
(Only the actual 'ls -al xxx' lines, the rest is shell prompt and result)
Regards
Patrick
[18:31 root@pm1] ls -lad /var/tmp
drwxrwxrwt 5 root wheel 204 Feb 26 18:26 /var/tmp
[18:31 root@pm1] ls -lad /var/tmp/mds
drwxrwxrwt 6 root wheel 204 Feb 26 18:20 /var/tmp/mds
[18:31 root@pm1] ls -lad /var/tmp/mds/
502/ 65/ messages/ system/
[18:31 root@pm1] ls -lad /var/tmp/mds/502
drwx------ 2 mau wheel 170 Feb 26 18:20 /var/tmp/mds/502