Why do I need root-privileges to update my package managers package list?
Hi,
I always wondered why I need root-privileges to update my package managers package list?
I'm aware that the privileges are required to access the databases located in the designated directories.
But why can't I even check for updates with out root?
It doesn't affect other users. (I guess)
To be aware of pending updates can be a security flaw, but the installed and the newest version can be detected easily on other ways.
What is the reason here?
This behavior is afaik quite common. Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian and Arch have this behavior, likely many other distros have it to.
Best Answer
If the package lists could be modified by normal users, it would be trivially easy to trick the package system into installing some other package instead if the superuser didn't update again before installing.