[Bug 1522675] Re: Can't drop privileges for downloading : _apt user not allowed

[dino99]

>From the Debian commit:
https://anonscm.debian.org/cgit/apt/apt.git/diff/?id=78db351  which is
supposed to be a reworded less scary message:

-	 _error->WarningE("pkgAcquire::Run", _("Can't drop privileges for downloading as file '%s' couldn't be accessed by user '%s'."),
+	 _error->WarningE("pkgAcquire::Run", _("Download is performed unsandboxed as root as file '%s' couldn't be accessed by user '%s'.")

For the non techies (says the huge majority of Ubuntu(s) users), that new reworded message is as scary as the first one !!!
David (maintener) should completly silence that warning for the common users, and consider it only as an internal/debugging warning.

From: David Kalnischkies <david at kalnischkies.de>
To: 813786-submitter at bugs.debian.org
Subject: Bug#813786 in apt marked as pending
Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2016 17:57:02 +0000

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1522675

Title:
  Can't drop privileges for downloading : _apt user not allowed

Status in apt package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in dpkg package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in apt package in Debian:
  Fix Committed
Status in synaptic package in Debian:
  New

Bug description:
  Recently we got new versions for synaptic 0.82+build1 & apt 1.1.3, but
  now get that error when installing/upgrading some packages:

  Setting up libc6-dbg:amd64 (2.21-0ubuntu5) ...
  Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.21-0ubuntu5) ...
  W: Can't drop privileges for downloading as file '/root/.synaptic/tmp//tmp_cl' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)

  From nautilus, i'm seeing a /root/ folder locked (x on its icon) and
  the folder is empty (no /.synaptic/ sub-folder or file), so the above
  error.

  oem at u64:~$ ls -l .synaptic
  total 4
  -rw-rw-r-- 1 oem oem   0 Aug 25 11:19 options
  -rw-rw-r-- 1 oem oem 236 Aug 25 11:19 synaptic.conf

  oem at u64:~$ ls -l /var/lib/apt/lists/
  ....
  -rw-r----- 1 root root        0 Sep 20 06:36 lock
  drwx------ 2 _apt root    16384 Sep 24 15:25 partial
  ......

  oem at u64:~$ sudo ls -l /var/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloads/
  .....
  drwxr-xr-x 2 _apt root 4096 Sep 22 23:33 partial

  
  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
  Package: synaptic 0.82+build1
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.3.0-1.10-generic 4.3.0
  Uname: Linux 4.3.0-1-generic x86_64
  NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
  ApportVersion: 2.19.2-0ubuntu8
  Architecture: amd64
  CurrentDesktop: GNOME
  Date: Fri Dec  4 05:23:25 2015
  SourcePackage: synaptic
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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