Extracting archives to location
 

I am using OpenSUSE. I tried to extract an archive to a root folder "/usr/local" or "/var/run" and got the error message "Could not write to destination <destination name>.
Check whether you have sufficient permissions." Does Ark have an identity of its own or does it use my identity?
Why doesn't it just prompt for root password?

Hi ComputerCritic, and welcome to LQ.

You will need to run ark as root to extract the archive to those locations, because you don't have the permission to do so as a non-root user.

On OpenSuse, if you're running KDE, do that by kdesu ark. Otherwise, gnomesu ark.

It generally would not be wise to extract a compressed archive directly to those locations; you may experience unintended consequences.

Just for curiosity, which kind of package are you trying to extract to those locations?