# FIX: The key(s) in the keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/???.gpg are ignored as the file is not readable by user '_apt' executing apt-key

https://blog.cynexia.com/fix-the-keys-in-the-keyring-etc-apt-trusted-gpg-d-gpg-are-ignored-as-the-file-is-not-readable-by-user-_apt-executing-apt-key

Author: [Rob Aleck](https://blog.cynexia.com/pages/about) · https://github.com/mnbf9rca · https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertaleck/ · https://family-foqos.app/

Published: 2023-10-13
Updated: 2026-10-01
Categories: Fix


When running `apt-get update` i was seeing these errors:

```
W: http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/jammy-security/InRelease: The key(s) in the keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/postgres.gpg are ignored as the file is not readable by user '_apt' executing apt-key.
```

I was getting this error after [migrating keys from the old, legacy store to a the shiny new one](<https://blog.cynexia.com/fix-the-keys-in-the-keyring-etc-apt-trusted-gpg-d-gpg-are-ignored-as-the-file-is-not-readable-by-user-_apt-executing-apt-key>).

A quick inspection shows that the new keys have different permissions to the existing ones

```
rob@localhost:~$ ls -alh /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/
total 40K
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Oct 13 14:00 .
drwxr-xr-x 8 root root 4.0K Oct 13 13:54 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.2K Sep  6 05:46 akamai-ubuntu-launchpad-ubuntu-ppa.gpg
-rw-r----- 1 root root 3.5K Oct 13 14:00 postgres.gpg
-rw-r----- 1 root root 2.8K Oct 13 14:00 timescaledb.gpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2.8K Mar 26  2021 ubuntu-keyring-2012-cdimage.gpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.7K Mar 26  2021 ubuntu-keyring-2018-archive.gpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2.3K Oct 13 08:59 ubuntu-pro-cis.gpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2.2K Oct 13 08:57 ubuntu-pro-esm-apps.gpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2.3K Oct 13 08:57 ubuntu-pro-esm-infra.gpg
```

The fix is pretty simple. Pick one of the pre-existing GPG keys, and copy the permissions to all the other keys in the folder. In my case, i chose the `ubuntu-pro-cis.gpg` key, but you can pick any that doesnt report the permissions error. Pass it as a `--reference` argument to the `chmod` command:

```
rob@localhost:~$ sudo chmod --reference=/etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/ubuntu-pro-cis.gpg /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/*.gpg
rob@localhost:~$ ls -alh /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/
total 40K
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Oct 13 14:00 .
drwxr-xr-x 8 root root 4.0K Oct 13 13:54 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.2K Sep  6 05:46 akamai-ubuntu-launchpad-ubuntu-ppa.gpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3.5K Oct 13 14:00 postgres.gpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2.8K Oct 13 14:00 timescaledb.gpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2.8K Mar 26  2021 ubuntu-keyring-2012-cdimage.gpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.7K Mar 26  2021 ubuntu-keyring-2018-archive.gpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2.3K Oct 13 08:59 ubuntu-pro-cis.gpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2.2K Oct 13 08:57 ubuntu-pro-esm-apps.gpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2.3K Oct 13 08:57 ubuntu-pro-esm-infra.gpg
```

Problem solved!