Why does the Dusk AppImage fail with 'Couldn't create directory /TwilitRealm'?

The AppImage variant tries to create '/TwilitRealm' at the filesystem root instead of inside your home directory. Without sudo, you don't have permission to write to /, so the launch fails. v1.0.0 shipped a .zip x86_64 build that doesn't have this bug. v1.0.1 shipped only an AppImage, so the issue resurfaced for some users.

Use the official .zip build. For v1.0.0, download Dusk-v1.0.0-linux-x86_64.zip from GitHub Releases. For v1.0.1, the AppImage is the only Linux artifact — if it fails on your distro, fall back to v1.0.0's .zip or build from source. If you've already run the AppImage and it created garbage at the root, clean it up with sudo rm -rf /TwilitRealm (only that exact path — don't generalize this command).

Which Linux distros are affected?

Confirmed on CachyOS (per #818). Likely any distro where the AppImage runtime resolves XDG paths incorrectly. The .zip and source builds are unaffected.

Dusk Linux AppImage 'Couldn't create /TwilitRealm' Error — Fix (#818)

Dusk's Linux AppImage fails with 'Couldn't create directory /TwilitRealm: Permission denied'. Use the official .zip build instead, plus the safe cleanup command.

Published 2026-05-14 ·Updated 2026-05-14

Status as of 2026-05-13: Open on the Dusklight tracker.

Symptom

The AppImage variant fails to launch with:

[fatal] [dusk] Unable to get PrefPath: Couldn't create directory '/TwilitRealm': 'Permission denied'

Dusk is trying to create its preference directory at the filesystem root (/TwilitRealm) instead of under $HOME or $XDG_DATA_HOME. Without root permissions, that write fails.

Cause

XDG / PrefPath resolution bug specific to the AppImage runtime. The .zip and source builds resolve correctly to ~/.local/share/TwilitRealm/Dusk/.

Fix

v1.0.0

Download the official .zip build instead of the AppImage:

# x86_64
curl -LO https://github.com/TwilitRealm/dusklight/releases/download/v1.0.0/Dusk-v1.0.0-linux-x86_64.zip
unzip Dusk-v1.0.0-linux-x86_64.zip
cd Dusk-v1.0.0-linux-x86_64
chmod +x Dusk
./Dusk

v1.0.1

v1.0.1 ships only an AppImage on Linux (the team dropped the .zip). If the AppImage fails on your distro, options are:

Stay on v1.0.0’s .zip until the AppImage issue is patched
Build from source using the linux-default-relwithdebinfo preset

Clean up the garbage directory

If the AppImage ran and created /TwilitRealm at root:

sudo rm -rf /TwilitRealm

Only that exact path. Don’t generalize.

Linux install guide
Steam Deck install guide (uses the same Linux build path)
All known issues

Last updated 2026-05-14.

Symptom

Cause

Fix

v1.0.0

v1.0.1

Clean up the garbage directory

Related