Morganamilo/paru · error

can't install AUR package as root

Error message

can't install AUR package as root

What it means

prepare_build rejects AUR package builds when the effective user ID is root. Building and installing AUR packages as root is unsafe: makepkg refuses to run as root, and PKGBUILDs execute arbitrary code, so paru bails before any build is scheduled. This is a deliberate safety policy, not an environment failure.

Solutions

1. Run paru as a regular (non-root) user; paru will prompt for the sudo password itself when needed
2. If you already ran paru with sudo, fix ownership of the paru cache: `sudo chown -R $USER:$USER ~/.cache/paru`
3. In containers/CI, create a non-root user and run paru under it
4. Use pacman directly for repository packages if root is genuinely required (repo packages do not hit this path)

Example fix

// before
$ sudo paru -S yay
error: can't install AUR package as root
// after
$ paru -S yay          # run as normal user; paru escalates internally

if nix::unistd::getuid().is_root() {
    eprintln!("refusing to run paru as root; run as a normal user");
    std::process::exit(1);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling install/prepare_build (via resolve_targets) when actions.build is non-empty (AUR packages to build) and nix::unistd::getuid().is_root() is true — e.g. running `sudo paru -S <aur-pkg>` or `paru -S <aur-pkg>` inside a root shell/container.

Common situations: Users running `sudo paru ...` habitually (paru must run as a normal user; it escalates itself via sudo internally); Docker/CI containers that default to root; root shells on recovery/rescue sessions.

Understand the failure class

Background: Permission denied / not authorized / 403 Forbidden: access-control rejections when the caller lacks the required role, grant, or ownership — this error's family across 18 libraries.

Related errors

• duplicate PKGBUILD
• {}: {}: {}
• could not find .SRCINFO for
• packages failed to build
• package list does not match srcinfo

AI-assisted analysis of Morganamilo/paru@9ac3578807 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9b406e417bf1f9f2. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/install.rs:1077

            return true;
        }
        if self.sysupgrade != 0 || self.refresh != 0 {
            return false;
        }
        if ran_pacman {
            return false;
        }
        aur_targets.is_empty() && upgrades.aur_keep.is_empty() && upgrades.pkgbuild_keep.is_empty()
    }

    async fn prepare_build(
        &mut self,
        config: &Config,
        cache: &Cache,
        actions: &mut Actions<'_>,
    ) -> Result<()> {
        if !actions.build.is_empty() && nix::unistd::getuid().is_root() {
            bail!(tr!("can't install AUR package as root"));
        }
        if !actions.build.is_empty() && config.args.has_arg("w", "downloadonly") {
            bail!(tr!("--downloadonly can't be used for AUR packages"));
        }

        let conflicts = check_actions(config, actions, self.install_targets)?;

        self.conflicts = conflicts
            .0
            .iter()
            .map(|c| c.pkg.clone())
            .chain(conflicts.1.iter().map(|c| c.pkg.clone()))
            .collect::<HashSet<_>>();

        let c = config.color;

        print_warnings(config, cache, Some(actions));

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