# Linux AppImage attempts to install macOS Adobe plugins and requests root access

**URL:** <https://forum.fontba.se/t/linux-appimage-attempts-to-install-macos-adobe-plugins-and-requests-root-access/2005>\
**Category:** Bugs\
**Created:** [September 10, 2026, 11:57am UTC](https://forum.fontba.se/t/linux-appimage-attempts-to-install-macos-adobe-plugins-and-requests-root-access/2005 "2026-09-10T11:57:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![smartin](https://forum.fontba.se/user_avatar/forum.fontba.se/smartin/32/1138_2.png) [@smartin](https://forum.fontba.se/u/smartin)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2026, 11:57am UTC](https://forum.fontba.se/t/linux-appimage-attempts-to-install-macos-adobe-plugins-and-requests-root-access/2005/1 "2026-09-10T11:57:50Z")

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After signing in to FontBase 2026.5.23 AppImage on Ubuntu 26.04.1 and activating the Awesome subscription, FontBase opens a PolicyKit authentication dialog requesting root privileges.

Inspecting the running process shows FontBase invoking pkexec to unpack bundled FontBase-Mac-\* Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator plugins into macOS-style paths such as:

/Applications/Adobe Photoshop 2026/Plug-ins/…  
/Applications/Adobe InDesign 2026/Plug-Ins/…  
/Applications/Adobe Illustrator 2026/Plug-ins/…

The AppImage contains Mac and Windows plugin archives, but no Linux plugin archives.

The application otherwise correctly identifies the platform as Linux (Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS, Electron plat=Linux).

Expected behavior:  
On Linux, FontBase should not attempt to install macOS Adobe plugins or request root access for /Applications/… paths.

Actual behavior:  
FontBase selects the macOS plugin installation path and requests root privileges to create/write those directories.

Environment:

FontBase 2026.5.23 AppImage  
Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS  
Electron 40.8.5  
x86\_64

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![yuriy](https://forum.fontba.se/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/y/ea666f/32.png) [@yuriy](https://forum.fontba.se/u/yuriy)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 8:57am UTC](https://forum.fontba.se/t/linux-appimage-attempts-to-install-macos-adobe-plugins-and-requests-root-access/2005/2 "2026-09-15T08:57:09Z")

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Hello @smartin, thank you for posting such a detailed investigation, welcome to the forum and apologies for the late reply 🙏  
We will definitely have a look into this.

Thank you again,