Synaptic fails with "W: Can't drop privileges for downloading as file '/root/.synaptic/tmp//tmp_sh' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)"

[David Favor]

Fails on all sorts of Xenial package installs.

Please update this ticket with manual fix for this, to facilitate Xenial testing.

Thanks.
__________

Two simple examples...

1) aptitude changelog apt > /dev/null

2) echo 'ttf-mscorefonts-installer msttcorefonts/accepted-mscorefonts-eula select true' | debconf-set-selections
     apt-get -yqq install ttf-mscorefonts-installer
___________

There are several bugs related to this problem. None have a fix specified + all are opened against random packages, rather than aptitude.

Several of these bugs have been closed saying problem is fixed in apt-1.1.2 + above which is incorrect.
___________

lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu Xenial Xerus (development branch)
Release: 16.04
Codename: xenial

apt-get --version
apt 1.1.10 (amd64)
Supported modules:
*Ver: Standard .deb
*Pkg: Debian dpkg interface (Priority 30)
 Pkg: Debian APT solver interface (Priority -1000)
 S.L: 'deb' Debian binary tree
 S.L: 'deb-src' Debian source tree
 Idx: Debian Source Index
 Idx: Debian Package Index
 Idx: Debian Translation Index
 Idx: Debian dpkg status file
 Idx: Debian deb file
 Idx: Debian dsc file
 Idx: Debian control file
 Idx: EDSP scenario file

aptitude --version
aptitude 0.7.4 compiled at Dec 9 2015 19:30:45
Compiler: g++ 5.3.1 20151207
Compiled against:
  apt version 5.0.0
  NCurses version 6.0
  libsigc++ version: 2.6.2
  Gtk+ support disabled.
  Qt support disabled.

Current library versions:
  NCurses version: ncurses 6.0.20151024
  cwidget version: 0.5.17
  Apt version: 5.0.0

[David Favor (davidfavor)]

Full messages...

The font install appears to have worked, just many messages interfering where logs are normally clean (no messages).

aptitude changelog apt > /dev/null
W: Can't drop privileges for downloading as file '/tmp/aptitude-root.24195:wYCEcM/aptitudeDownload6J+8J:+PsVGmTNm^.^::Lz:%.Hi55VKA' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)

apt-get -yqq install debconf-utils
echo 'ttf-mscorefonts-installer msttcorefonts/accepted-mscorefonts-eula select true' | debconf-set-selections
apt-get -yqq install ttf-mscorefonts-installer
Preconfiguring packages ...
Selecting previously unselected package ttf-mscorefonts-installer.
(Reading database ... 27578 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../ttf-mscorefonts-installer_3.4+nmu1ubuntu2_all.deb ...
mscorefonts-eula license has already been accepted
Unpacking ttf-mscorefonts-installer (3.4+nmu1ubuntu2) ...
Processing triggers for update-notifier-common (3.165) ...
ttf-mscorefonts-installer: downloading http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/andale32.exe
Get:1 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/andale32.exe [198 kB]
Fetched 198 kB in 20s (9533 B/s)
W: Can't drop privileges for downloading as file '/var/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloads/partial/andale32.exe' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)
ttf-mscorefonts-installer: downloading http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/arial32.exe
Get:1 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/arial32.exe [554 kB]
Fetched 554 kB in 22s (24.1 kB/s)
W: Can't drop privileges for downloading as file '/var/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloads/partial/arial32.exe' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)
ttf-mscorefonts-installer: downloading http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/arialb32.exe
Get:1 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/arialb32.exe [168 kB]
Fetched 168 kB in 11s (14.6 kB/s)
W: Can't drop privileges for downloading as file '/var/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloads/partial/arialb32.exe' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)
ttf-mscorefonts-installer: downloading http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/comic32.exe
Get:1 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/comic32.exe [246 kB]
Fetched 246 kB in 15s (15.6 kB/s)
W: Can't drop privileges for downloading as file '/var/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloads/partial/comic32.exe' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)
ttf-mscorefonts-installer: downloading http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/courie32.exe
Get:1 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/courie32.exe [646 kB]
Fetched 646 kB in 16s (39.5 kB/s)
W: Can't drop privileges for downloading as file '/var/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloads/partial/courie32.exe' cou...

[David Favor (davidfavor)]

Manual fix info appreciated. Thanks.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[David Favor (davidfavor)]

Please update this ticket as soon as a manual fix is determined, to accelerate Xenial testing.

Thanks.

[Tigerboy (tigersands)]

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)

following what appears to be the successful install of package xicc 0.2-3

fully upgraded 16.04

[Tigerboy (tigersands)]

To be clear I used apt-get

[Tigerboy (tigersands)]

Added bug report to #1522675

[Markhor (markhor)]

Quick and dirty workaround:

sudo chmod 777 /var/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloads/partial

[Luis Ferro (luis-ferro)]

Please check:
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=808802

# add unprivileged user for the apt methods

adduser --force-badname --system --home /nonexistent \
--no-create-home --quiet _apt || true

# Fixup any mistake in the home directory of the _apt user

if dpkg --compare-versions "$2" lt-nl 1.1~exp10~; then
usermod --home /nonexistent _apt

This is due, as the message implies the inexistence of the user _apt (which somehow is now required and not preexistent on the user list).

Previously all those folders where owned by root:root, now they are ubuntu:ubuntu and the synaptic bug looks to imply that it should be _apt user now.

[Puspendu Banerjee (puspendu-banerjee)]

In line with @markhor change permission of corresponding .deb file[s] and re-run the install procedure.

[i2000s (i2000s)]

I also got this error. After changing the permission of the partial folder, I still cannot download the mscorefonts. Error message below:

```
Failure to download extra data files

The following packages requested additional data downloads after package installation, but the data could not be downloaded or could not be processed.

ttf-mscorefonts-installer

The download will be attempted again later, or you can try the download again now. Running this command requires an active Internet connection.
E: Failed to fetch http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/andale32.exe Connection failed

E: Download Failed
Setting up ttf-mscorefonts-installer (3.4+nmu1ubuntu2) ...
```

I can download the font package from internet without any problem, but not from terminal. BTW, I am actually using Linux kernel 4.6.0-rc5, if it matters. Thanks.

[Paolo Pustorino (stickgrinder)]

Same as #11. ttf-mscorefonts-installer fails with the same error with both the stock and the 4.6 mainline kernel (this can't be a kernel issue anyway).

Tempted to chmod 777 some dir and get past this issue, seriously. This is frustrating.

[sengerandu (sengerandu)]

My plasma crashed repeatedly while searching for a program from the launcher menu.
Plasma would recover each time with report that Baloo has failed to start.
Restarted twice to see if it solves, no success.
Attempted to reinstall all Baloo related packages, when this "_apt" user issue is coming.

It is repeatable and persistent.

[David Favor (davidfavor)]

Paolo Pustorino wrote:
> *** This bug is a duplicate of bug 1522675 ***
> http://links.davidfavor.com/wf/click?upn=npdP0-2FMHcGNgMeleDP-2B5C-2FmxBvEbzmIUS86pdsn6cAQIuaw8hOEgw5R6OCd8iyeZ_lR0zP4fA0FK1DidfqbLFtpflD6kv8L0IjDJyBWAygPN3dEKOVhCGsm26osZCXx12b7SRBdwuFv03mPlx344DrNLxPszjOY7goyyg4ZorrI3N-2Fhogy-2FmwVCFZD0UmTIHdfgD0ejufkUbMq9KduYPuyz16kOwH-2BUK6R4bGXNE3L5A4Tcms7EsF6bECTkCGOl8rTrWU9Ajm0yfxHumk6hJYbDt0X51q5xrUS8VuFg-2Fto6c-3D
>
> Same as #11. ttf-mscorefonts-installer fails with the same error with
> both the stock and the 4.6 mainline kernel (this can't be a kernel issue
> anyway).
>
> Tempted to chmod 777 some dir and get past this issue, seriously. This
> is frustrating.
>

+1 for frustration.

I reported this bug months ago + it still shows up every time I generate
a new physical server or LXC container.

[JPT (j-p-t)]

For me this problem was solved by, as #9 suggested:
# add unprivileged user for the apt methods
adduser --force-badname --system --home /nonexistent \
--no-create-home --quiet _apt || true

I don't understand what this command should do and it does not work:
# Fixup any mistake in the home directory of the _apt user
if dpkg --compare-versions "$2" lt-nl 1.1~exp10~; then
usermod --home /nonexistent _apt

I also had to delete all files in /var/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloads/partial/

My system: fresh install of Kubuntu Xenial

[Luis Ferro (luis-ferro)]

https://bugs.launchpad.net/cloud-images/+bug/1565985/comments/37

Still getting this error, and creating the user / home directory / remove temporary folder.

What i noticed is that the install is with xenial and the offending folder is:

/var/lib/apt/lists/partial/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_yakkety_InRelease

Which btw doesn't exist.

That is for ubuntu 16.10 (yakkety) not the ubuntu version that was installed 16.04 (xenial).

Somehow it feels wrong to try to install packages of a future version into a recently released LTS.

[Luis Ferro (luis-ferro)]

This may is related with:

https://github.com/fgrehm/vagrant-cachier/issues/175

The solution to add the configuration on Vagrantfile did worked for me:

config.cache.synced_folder_opts = {
owner: "_apt",
group: "_apt"
}

So now just need to wait for the final box version for xenial.

[Erik Auerswald (auerswal)]

This bug is obviously NOT a duplicate of a synaptic bug, because it occurs with aptitude, not synaptic. The title is misleading as well, because this bug does NOT concern the file '/root/.synaptic/tmp//tmp_sh', but rather files like '/tmp/aptitude-root.24195:wYCEcM/aptitudeDownload6J+8J:+PsVGmTNm^.^::Lz:%.Hi55VKA' and '/var/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloads/partial/andale32.exe.'

Please treat this bug as different from the supposed "original". The underlying issue (missing(?) system user _apt and wrong(?) directory owner, group and/or permission) probably is the same, but the directories used are different. Fixing one bug by e.g. correcting one directories permissions will probably NOT fix the supposed "duplicate" bug.

Thanks.

[john ortiz (castor1808)]

hi guys, i have a solution, post my code.

sudo chmod 777 /var/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloads/partial

sudo apt-get purge ttf-mscorefonts-installer

sudo rm -Rv /var/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloads/partial/*

sudo apt-get install --reinstall ttf-mscorefonts-installer

thanks for your comments.

[Christian Mertes (cmertes)]

Thanks for this nice workaround, John, but I would strongly suggest not to execute that first line. If you have already, set the permissions back to 755. Instead, the better way to fix this permission problem is the following line:

sudo chown _apt /var/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloads/partial/

May I at this point also say that the continued existence of this trivial bug is a disgrace and a reason for me to question if there are structural problems within the core Ubuntu development community that may easily lead to more serious problems.

[Thiago Moreira (thiagomoreira)]

I confirm that workaround of john ortiz works! Thank you !

[David Favor (davidfavor)]

Thiago Moreira wrote:
> *** This bug is a duplicate of bug 1522675 ***
> http://links.davidfavor.com/wf/click?upn=npdP0-2FMHcGNgMeleDP-2B5C-2FmxBvEbzmIUS86pdsn6cAQIuaw8hOEgw5R6OCd8iyeZ_lR0zP4fA0FK1DidfqbLFtpflD6kv8L0IjDJyBWAygPP-2BuZH2Jz-2BuuquBHBK-2BZ0f2E8n90P-2BqBFlyahABD-2BGpAkgLMPIVdo6sMegBkRDtzWZdM1Xt2VtllGIGMJAOp1pqPjwdB3vZplqOKqHixhpS2-2FTTPbm8jeTVin1JU-2FVy1lqKCtIAhkDlcBJUWosyJvW5tSvQbvF-2BvRzg8-2B23D1e3T9GurxmC0ECLBTdYBcBF-2F4g-3D
>
> I confirm that workaround of john ortiz works! Thank you !

Bug still exists in apt-get V1.2.12

[xtsbdu3reyrbrmroezob (xtsbdu3reyrbrmroezob)]

The "fix" from John Ortiz is not a solution because it opens users up to a security vulnerability where anyone / apps can hijack and gain root privileges. This is now a security issue.

[CoffeeCoffee (coffeecoffee)]

Thank you to Christian Mertes (cmertes) https://launchpad.net/~cmertes for your comment #20 at
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/aptitude/+bug/1543280/comments/20 .
You helped me to use the Synaptic-Paketverwaltung on my new 16.04.01 notebook.
I will use Synaptic as workaround to https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1616943 .
In case you're interested you'll find my learning curve at https://forum.ubuntuusers.de/post/8594893/ .

[MP (pagel-d)]

encountered this today. Resulted in an "information available" window opening that appears forever unsatisfied ("run this action now" button doesn't make it go away, even after applying the fix at bottom)
Information available dialogue is as follows:
Failure to download extra data files
The following packages requested additional data downloads after package installation, but the data could not be downloaded or could not be processed.
ttf-mscorefonts-installer
The download will be attempted again later, or you can try the download again now. Running this command requires an active Internet connection.

The following steps succeeded and installed the troublesome ttf-mscorefonts-installer:

$ sudo chown _apt:root /var/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloads/partial/

$ sudo rm /var/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloads/partial/*.FAILED

$ sudo apt install --reinstall update-notifier-common

runs to completion, final 2 lines =

All done, no errors.
All fonts downloaded and installed.

[marco.pallotta (marco-pallotta)]

I can confirm the workaround of Christian Mertes works!
Thanks.

[kroenecker (agent-smith)]

Check to see if you have an _apt user:

cat /etc/passwd | grep apt

_apt:x:105:65534::/nonexistent:/bin/false

If you do, no need to add the user. Otherwise,

adduser --force-badname --system --home /nonexistent --no-create-home --quiet _apt || true

I haven't verified that it creates precisely the user necessary. If I remember correctly, /bin/false means no shell access so make sure the user created does in fact have /bin/false in passwd. Also it has no group (65534). That is it really.

Finally check the directory situation:

ls -la /var/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloads/

drwxr-xr-x 2 _apt root 4096 Nov 9 10:23 partial

As you can see "_apt" is properly listed as the owner. If not,

sudo chown _apt /var/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloads/partial/

My system already had an _apt user, but did not have proper directory permissions. At least, I have to assume that this is a proper fix. If not, somebody more knowledgeable should be speaking up and sorting this out...

[Vyacheslav (armag-vvg)]

Hi guys,

The bug is still here and the workaround from John Ortiz didn't solve it for me. After changing a directory permissions I've stopped to get warnings. But I've got some strange link to download:

> LC_ALL=C sudo /usr/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloader

ttf-mscorefonts-installer: processing...
ttf-mscorefonts-installer: downloading http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/andale32.exe
Get:1 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/andale32.exe [198 kB]
Fetched 198 kB in 2s (82.5 kB/s)
ttf-mscorefonts-installer: downloading http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/arial32.exe
Get:1 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/arial32.exe [554 kB]
Fetched 554 kB in 4s (111 kB/s)
ttf-mscorefonts-installer: downloading http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/arialb32.exe
Get:1 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/arialb32.exe [168 kB]
Fetched 168 kB in 2s (69.5 kB/s)
ttf-mscorefonts-installer: downloading http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/comic32.exe
Err:1 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/comic32.exe
  Protocol "http" not supported or disabled in libcurl
E: Failed to fetch https://heanet.dl.sourceforge.net/project/corefonts/the fonts/final/comic32.exe Protocol "http" not supported or disabled in libcurl

E: Download Failed

What is a "project/corefonts/the fonts/final" at the last error line - ?

(I have apt ver: 1.2.12~ubuntu16.04.1)

[Galvani (jan-kozak)]

The fix with the _apt user worked, kind of, but the fonts seem to be unavailable now. Could that be the reason for the error messages?

Failed download:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall ttf-mscorefonts-installer
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libosmesa6 libwine
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  ttf-mscorefonts-installer
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 37 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/29,5 kB of archives.
After this operation, 134 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Preconfiguring packages ...
Selecting previously unselected package ttf-mscorefonts-installer.
(Reading database ... 263501 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../ttf-mscorefonts-installer_3.4+nmu1ubuntu2_all.deb ...
Unpacking ttf-mscorefonts-installer (3.4+nmu1ubuntu2) ...
Processing triggers for update-notifier-common (3.175) ...
ttf-mscorefonts-installer: processing...
ttf-mscorefonts-installer: downloading http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/andale32.exe
Err:1 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/andale32.exe
  404 Not Found
E: Failed to fetch https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/corefonts/the?download&failedmirror=freefr.dl.sourceforge.net 404 Not Found
E: Download Failed
Setting up ttf-mscorefonts-installer (3.4+nmu1ubuntu2) ...
Processing triggers for fontconfig (2.11.94-0ubuntu2) ...

[John Rüdén (john-ruden)]

Is there a way to manually installing this package? I get different problems every attempt with the secondary web fetches (XXXXXX32.exe files). Usually it succeeds on 1-4 .exes but it is never able to get them all. The HTTP errors I get are (examples):

Err:1 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/andale32.exe
  404 Not Found

and

Err:1 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/courie32.exe
  The HTTP server sent an invalid Content-Range header

I want to just download the package and all the .exe and run dpkg if possible...

[Ivnitskii Andrei (ivnitsky-a)]

Same problem. Cant download http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/andale32.exe in dpkg, but in browser I download it.

[wilhelm (mondfahrer)]

I solved the problem by downloading (manually) the 3.6 version of ttf-mscorefonts-installer from debian
(https://packages.debian.org/de/sid/all/ttf-mscorefonts-installer/download). installing that package with gnome's software center (and probably also ubuntu's software center) works perfectly.

Probably this is a workaround and not a solution

The problem appeared after upgrading from 15.10 gnome-ubuntu flavour to its 16.04 LTS version (amd64)

[-- (miniwark-deactivatedaccount)]

I confirm than the wilhem workaround work for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

[Matthew Hudson (layolayo)]

Thank you wilhelm - solved this issue for me!

[Sergio Zia (sergio-zia-f)]

Thanks to Wilhelm, this workarround works for me (Ubuntu 16.04 LTS)

[Guido Scholz (gscholz)]

Thanks to Wilhelm, the debian 3.6 mscorefonts-installer works for me (Ubuntu 16.04 LTS) as well

[Paweł (paff)]

Hi, I think that beside any other problems related the issue is also with the "space" in the url:
https://vorboss.dl.sourceforge.net/project/corefonts/the%20fonts/final/

Ubuntu says that cant download:
https://vorboss.dl.sourceforge.net/project/corefonts/the fonts/final/andale32.exe 404 Not Found

[Paweł (paff)]

This package will install all fonts:
http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/contrib/m/msttcorefonts/ttf-mscorefonts-installer_3.6_all.deb

[Francesco Ongaro (francesco-ongaro)]

I can confirm the bug, Ubuntu 16.04.

I know that this is a duplicate of bug #1522675 (not related to synaptic but to apt itself as noted before), but I think that we have two different issues here.

The first is:

W: Can't drop privileges for downloading as file '/var/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloads/partial/andale32.exe' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)

This happens as the directory is not owned by _apt:

cat /etc/passwd | grep apt
_apt:x:105:65534::/nonexistent:/bin/false

ls -la /var/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloads/
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 gen 8 17:50 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 gen 8 17:50 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 gen 8 17:50 partial

The manual workaround that worked for me and do no create a huge security hole is:

chown _apt /var/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloads/partial/

Hopefully https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=813786 will fix the issue but can't say till it hit mainstream as I'm a standard user with a LTS installation.

Anyway, and this is the seconde issue, ttf-mscorefonts-installer will refuse to work anyway as ttf-mscorefonts-installer_3.4+nmu1ubuntu2_all.deb is somehow broken getting a redirect from Sourceforge:

curl -kis http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/arial32.exe | grep "^Location: "
Location: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/corefonts/the%20fonts/final/arial32.exe

That contains a space that will make the subsequent request:

E: Failed to fetch https://netcologne.dl.sourceforge.net/project/corefonts/the fonts/final/arial32.exe The HTTP server sent an invalid Content-Range header
E: Download Failed

Installing ttf-mscorefonts-installer_3.6_all.deb from Debian fix the issue so it really has to do with some scripting inside the package (postinst?).

[bill (wemember)]

Try https://packages.debian.org/jessie/all/ttf-mscorefonts-installer/download and select 3.6. This worked for me,

[nightsparc (nightsparc)]

I can confirm the 2nd bug and description/resolution of francesco-ongaro.

[psyray (psyray)]

Works great with debian package thanks bill (#40)

[reliable-robin-22 (nicolasdiogo)]

hi,

I believe the problem is in the space within the URl as shown in comment #39:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/aptitude/+bug/1543280/comments/39

#40 worked
Try https://packages.debian.org/jessie/all/ttf-mscorefonts-installer/download and select 3.6. This worked for me

[Gottfried (g-siehs)]

Hi, the Debian package works.
Maybe the bug is a wrong folder:
In 3.4 (Ubuntu) I see /usr/lib/msttcorefonts/...
(but it does not exist)
In 3.6 (Debian) I see /var/lib/msttcorefonts/...
(which seems to be correct)

Best Regards,
Gottfried

[Grant Stephens (stephensg)]

Been having the save issue for quite a while in 16.04 now.

[Mika Huurre (mika-huurre)]

A fresh install of 16.10, the same issue. #40 + #42 worked for me (with https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2347693).

[Don (ds-mart0)]

I have this same issue installing flash plugin on Ubuntu 16.10
W: Can't drop privileges for downloading as file '/root/.synaptic/tmp//tmp_sh' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)

[Aris (aris-p)]

I had this error message a few times in a fresh Ubuntu-MATE 16.10

Can't drop privileges for downloading as file '/root/.synaptic/tmp//tmp_sh' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission non accordée)

aris@LinuxBox:~$ sudo ls -dl /root/.synaptic/tmp//tmp_sh
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 196069 avril 5 17:25 /root/.synaptic/tmp//tmp_sh

User _apt exist but root own this directory

Is this the problem ?

Can we solve it by a `chown` command like this ?

chown _apt /root/.synaptic/tmp//tmp_sh

[Fredrik Wendt (fredrik-wendt)]

I ran into this bug as well, as I tried to build a new Linux kernel as root. Downloading the sources as a regular user worked though.

apt-get source linux-image-extra-4.10.0-19-generic

W: Download is performed unsandboxed as root as file 'linux_4.10.0-21.23.dsc' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)

[Jim Campbell (jwcampbell)]

Installing 'apt-transport-https' allows the ttf-mscorefonts-installer to run successfully, but I still get the same "Can't drop privileges for downloading as file . . . couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'" message.

[Zero (zerofossilfuel)]

Two years since this bug was first reported. Status confirmed. Still not fixed. Really?

BUMP!

[joe stone (neokron)]

completing this one command seemed to work for me

sudo apt install --reinstall update-notifier-common

no more error in synaptic

[joe stone (neokron)]

check and update your headers if that dint work. its the only other thing I did. but i think its the one simple line up there that did it

[aaronfranke (arnfranke)]

The solution I've found is to download Debian's version of this package:

https://packages.debian.org/en/sid/all/ttf-mscorefonts-installer/download

Then the fonts install without any problems! Hooray, and it's sad that Ubuntu failed to create a functional package when they could've just copied Debian's version and had it work!