[DannyBee]

It was (in fact, it's not clear it was ever broken) That's why if you look at the linked bug report, the only reports are of people who have used third party installers as root that screw up the permissions.

The bug report is basically "when i screw this up, chrome doesn't notice and fix it for me".

[taeric]

I'm not at all sure how this excuses things. If there is a known state that can be reached by the browser, then either a) indicate why it cannot be fixed and give tips for the users or b) put in the code to fix it for the users.

[loeg]

Root can modify the filesystem arbitrarily. To what extent should developers proactively scan their own files for arbitrary changes by 3rd parties? How much work should go into this, rather than fixing other bugs or improving performance?

[taeric]

In this case, there is no need to proactively scan anymore. It was reported by users.

I stressed the wrong thing before. If it can not be fixed, say so.

[DiabloD3]

How do you propose third parties modifying installers without Google's knowledge or permission something Google can fix?

[loeg]

I think GP is just suggesting that Google has had the knowledge about this specific 3rd party issue (via this bug) for years. It can't fix all possible 3rd party installer-induced issues, but it could potentially fix this one. (Or at least notify the user.)

[loeg]

Fair enough!