I recently installed Thunderbird 3.1 from some source that wasn't the ubuntu repos. I can't remember right now where I got it from (I think it was packaged as a deb), but I'm having a problem when it tries to auto-update.
Unlike the versions that manage their updates via the repos, this one is supposed to update itself whenever it needs to, which seemed fine, but whenever it tries, it pops up an error:
A recommended security and stability update is available, but you do not have the system permissions required to install it. Please contact your system administrator, or try again from an account that has permission to install software on this computer. You can always get the latest version of Thunderbird at: http://mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird
Is there a way to give TB the permissions it needs short of opening it as root?
Nope. The only way to allow Thunderbird to update itself is to launch it as root, or to find yet another source that built Thunderbird in such a way that you can install it entirely within your own home folder.
A better option, if you want to run cutting-edge apps, is to try to find someone making builds on the in a Launchpad PPA. These can update through the normal Synaptic/Upgrade system, which means you won't end up with corner cases like this. As it happens, the Mozilla team maintains a PPA of newer versions of Firefox and Thunderbird, including even nightlies. If you install Thunderbird 3.1 from there, you should be golden.
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