Whenever I update Discord on my Debian 12 system, I receive a notice that says: ">N: Download is performed unsandboxed as root as file '/home/user/Downloads/discord-0.0.94.deb' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)". It seems like this is just an informational message and the installation itself goes through without issues, but I can't help but wonder why this happens every time specifically during Discord updates. It's not something I notice with other updates. Can someone explain what's going on? Thanks!
2 Answers
The reason you see that message is that the package manager 'apt' uses a specific user called '_apt' for security reasons while downloading packages. When it tries to access files in your home directory, it doesn't have the right permissions to do so, so it defaults to using the root user instead. This is pretty normal behavior just for Discord updates because of where the file is located. It's not really an error, just a heads-up!
There’s some good resources out there that might help you understand this better. Check out the wiki for various tips and advice on managing files and permissions on Linux. Just remember to take regular backups and use a VM to try new things out before you commit to changes!
That's so strange. Thank you for explaining it to me! 🙂