Troubleshooting "go not root owned" Error in Go Installation

In attempting to install Go on Ubuntu 16.04, you may encounter the error message "go not root-owned 1000:0." This issue arises when the system root directory has an incorrect owner, resulting in a security vulnerability where non-root users could potentially alter system files.

To resolve this issue, it's crucial to ensure the correct ownership of the root directory. Running the following command:

sudo chown root /

will restore ownership of the root directory to root.

The incorrect ownership of the root directory suggests that you may have intentionally altered it in the past. It's highly recommended to rectify this unauthorized modification by changing back the ownership or, if necessary, reinstalling your operating system.

It's important to note that granting excessive privileges to non-root users can compromise the security of your system. To mitigate this, use sudo judiciously to grant limited system access for specific tasks. By becoming a sudoer (typically configured during OS installation), you can perform commands with system privileges without being the root user.