Error arises when another user on same system runs a "make check" or otherwise tries to access /tmp/alertnotify.txt before /tmp is flushed by system and creates a permission clash. E.g. Making check in src make[1]: Entering directory '/home/user2/bitcoin-dev/bitcoin/src' make[2]: Entering directory '/home/user2/bitcoin-dev/bitcoin/src' make check-TESTS check-local make[3]: Entering directory '/home/user2/bitcoin-dev/bitcoin/src' make[4]: Entering directory '/home/user2/bitcoin-dev/bitcoin/src' ../build-aux/test-driver: line 107: 5975 Aborted (core dumped) "$@" > $log_file 2>&1 FAIL: test/test_bitcoin . . See src/test-suite.log Please report to https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues . .
and in src/test-suite.log
Running 161 test cases... unknown location(0): fatal error in "AlertNotify": std::runtime_error: boost::filesystem::remove: Operation not permitted: "/tmp/alertnotify.txt" test/alert_tests.cpp(154): last checkpoint unknown location(0): fatal error in "PartitionAlert": memory access violation at address: 0x00000078: no mapping at fault address test/alert_tests.cpp(154): last checkpoint