sudo apt-get update couldn't create temporary file

Question

Tried to do sudo apt-get update, get this response every time I run it:

Get:1 http://repo.radeon.com/rocm/apt/debian xenial InRelease [1814 B]
Get:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security InRelease [88.7 kB]
Err:1 http://repo.radeon.com/rocm/apt/debian xenial InRelease
  Couldn't create temporary file /tmp/apt.conf.RpjjUo for passing config to apt-key
Err:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security InRelease
  Couldn't create temporary file /tmp/apt.conf.IvhgJr for passing config to apt-key
Get:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates InRelease [88.7 kB]
Err:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates InRelease
  Couldn't create temporary file /tmp/apt.conf.F98B6M for passing config to apt-key
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports InRelease [74.6 kB]
Err:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports InRelease
  Couldn't create temporary file /tmp/apt.conf.WWtE1d for passing config to apt-key
Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease [242 kB]
Err:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease
  Couldn't create temporary file /tmp/apt.conf.TP8dgO for passing config to apt-key
Reading package lists... Done
W: GPG error: http://repo.radeon.com/rocm/apt/debian xenial InRelease: Couldn't create temporary file /tmp/apt.conf.RpjjUo for passing config to apt-key
E: The repository 'http://repo.radeon.com/rocm/apt/debian xenial InRelease' is not signed.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
W: GPG error: http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security InRelease: Couldn't create temporary file /tmp/apt.conf.IvhgJr for passing config to apt-key
E: The repository 'http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security InRelease' is not signed.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
W: GPG error: http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates InRelease: Couldn't create temporary file /tmp/apt.conf.F98B6M for passing config to apt-key
E: The repository 'http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates InRelease' is not signed.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
W: GPG error: http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports InRelease: Couldn't create temporary file /tmp/apt.conf.WWtE1d for passing config to apt-key
E: The repository 'http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports InRelease' is not signed.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
W: GPG error: http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease: Couldn't create temporary file /tmp/apt.conf.TP8dgO for passing config to apt-key
E: The repository 'http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease' is not signed.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.

Tried sudo apt-get clean, nothing happened. sudo apt-get upgrade states that there is nothing that needs to be upgraded. sudo apt-get check doesn't find anything either.

Using Ubuntu on Windows 10.

Solution 1

You probably changed the file permissions on your /tmp folder, check with

ls -lad /tmp

The normal settings for /tmp are 1777, which ls shows as drwxrwxrwt. That is: wide open, except that only the owner of a file can remove it (that's what this extra t bit means for a directory).

If the settings are wrong, you can restore them with:

chmod 1777 /tmp

I would recommend rebooting the machine after making this change.

If you cannot reboot, check the answers here: https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/71625/20661

NOTE: also check /var/tmp the same way, maybe you have the same error there

Solution 2

For me, I was using a Docker container and had mounted a directory to /tmp in the container, which was causing the conflict. I removed the mounted directory to /tmp and that allowed apt update to work.