*** This bug is a duplicate of bug 1522675 *** https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1522675
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... -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1543280 Title: 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)" To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/aptitude/+bug/1543280/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs