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  • @MaskTheSmokin: So fakeroot gives you super user power only for file manipulation operations,right. Commented Feb 24, 2011 at 13:11
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    It does not really give super user power, it only fakes it - the program running in it thinks it has root privileges, while it really still uses the user's normal privileges. Commented Feb 26, 2011 at 13:22
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    Where is the difference between the program running in it thinks it has root privileges and the program having root privileges? If I can do a rm -rf / and the program, running it thinks I have root privileges ... Commented Mar 20, 2011 at 15:52
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    @userunknown You might be able to bypass rm's check that you have sufficient permissions, but the kernel itself wouldn't let you do it; the unlink system call would fail. It's not up to the application alone to handle permissions, or you'd be able to write your own application that doesn't check permissions and do whatever you want with it Commented Oct 7, 2012 at 18:26
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    An example to elucidate the need for fakeroot would be fantastic. I can see the uses of fakeroot, but I don't see why people can't work around root permissions to the point that it's easier to fake it. Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 14:54