[Bug 1543280] Re: 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)"

[MP]

*** This bug is a duplicate of bug 1522675 ***
    https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1522675

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.

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Foundations Bugs, which is subscribed to aptitude in 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)"

Status in aptitude package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  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

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/aptitude/+bug/1543280/+subscriptions