Regarding the bug itself: I wouldn't exactly call it a regression, but it wasn't a super-intended change either. If I see it right I "broke" it in 2015 by fixing a compiler warning, which indicated that a check which should have been since ever never applied. So, that it worked before was just as well a bug… long story short I guess we can make that a warning.
Why an error/warning? Having a different view on what packages are available depending on if you are root or not is a cause for confusion by users and tools alike as you confirm the non-root view, but the root view is applied, which might include additional packages, different versions or even (additional) unauthenticated packages you haven't approved… (but the tools think you have). Similar things happen for non- root preferences/configs and are hence discouraged. For netrc/auth.conf documentation we have e.g. Debian bug #811181 tracking it. It is just that nobody has written documentation yet. I assume it is waiting for someone who actually wants that feature to write a few sentences about it. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Touch seeded packages, which is subscribed to apt in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1701852 Title: (xenial+) apt-cache fails to run if a single sources.list.d entry is not readable Status in apt package in Ubuntu: Triaged Bug description: When evaluating: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-advantage- tools/+bug/1700611 On 16.04 and greater, apt-cache fails to run if a single sources.list.d is not readable (by the current user). On Trusty, the behavior was a bit more friendly in that it would run and just not show results from the file that cannot be read. My expectation is that when run it would warn if any .list file could not be read, but show results for everything it can see. This terminal interaction shows the problem (trusty and precise behave the same here): ubuntu@precise-esm:~$ ll /etc/apt/sources.list.d/staging-ubuntu-esm-precise.list -rw------- 1 root root 200 Jun 7 18:35 /etc/apt/sources.list.d/staging-ubuntu-esm-precise.list ubuntu@precise-esm:~$ apt-cache policy landscape-client landscape-client: Installed: (none) Candidate: 14.12-0ubuntu0.12.04 Version table: 14.12-0ubuntu0.12.04 0 500 http://br.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/main amd64 Packages 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status 12.04.3-0ubuntu1 0 500 http://br.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages ubuntu@precise-esm:~$ sudo apt-cache policy landscape-client landscape-client: Installed: (none) Candidate: 14.12-0ubuntu5.12.04 Version table: 14.12-0ubuntu5.12.04 0 500 https://extended.security.staging.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages 14.12-0ubuntu0.12.04 0 500 http://br.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/main amd64 Packages 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status 12.04.3-0ubuntu1 0 500 http://br.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages 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:~$ To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/+bug/1701852/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages Post to : touch-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
