So I would be OK for this change on precise, and also trusty (just tested) where it has the same behavior as precise. But from xenial onwards it breaks apt-cache as a whole for non-root users:
ubuntu@xenial-test:~$ apt-cache search juju
E: Opening /etc/apt/sources.list.d/juju-ubuntu-stable-xenial.list - ifstream::ifstream (13: Permission denied)
E: The list of sources could not be read.
ubuntu@xenial-test:~$
There seems to be a difference in behavior in apt. Precise's apt-cache, for example, doesn't seem to care:
ubuntu@ precise- esm:~$ l /etc/apt/ sources. list.d/ staging- ubuntu- esm-precise. list sources. list.d/ staging- ubuntu- esm-precise. list
-rw------- 1 root root 200 Jun 7 18:35 /etc/apt/
ubuntu@ precise- esm:~$ apt-cache policy landscape-client 12.04 12-0ubuntu0. 12.04 0 br.archive. ubuntu. com/ubuntu/ precise- updates/ main amd64 Packages dpkg/status 04.3-0ubuntu1 0 br.archive. ubuntu. com/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages
landscape-client:
Installed: (none)
Candidate: 14.12-0ubuntu0.
Version table:
14.
500 http://
100 /var/lib/
12.
500 http://
ubuntu@ precise- esm:~$ sudo apt-cache policy landscape-client 12.04 12-0ubuntu5. 12.04 0 /extended. security. staging. ubuntu. com/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages 12-0ubuntu0. 12.04 0 br.archive. ubuntu. com/ubuntu/ precise- updates/ main amd64 Packages dpkg/status 04.3-0ubuntu1 0 br.archive. ubuntu. com/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages
landscape-client:
Installed: (none)
Candidate: 14.12-0ubuntu5.
Version table:
14.
500 https:/
14.
500 http://
100 /var/lib/
12.
500 http://
So I would be OK for this change on precise, and also trusty (just tested) where it has the same behavior as precise. But from xenial onwards it breaks apt-cache as a whole for non-root users:
ubuntu@ xenial- test:~$ apt-cache search juju sources. list.d/ juju-ubuntu- stable- xenial. list - ifstream::ifstream (13: Permission denied) xenial- test:~$
E: Opening /etc/apt/
E: The list of sources could not be read.
ubuntu@