compat/linux program claims "no write access to ~"

[Steve Franks]

Sounds like a bogus error to me.  I just downgraded amd64 to i386,
reinstalled a linux program and it claims it can't write to ~ now.
I'm running it, and I have no reason to think it wouldn't run as me.
~ is 775 anyway.  Also, running the linux program as su or sudo gives
the same error.  Any ideas just where this might be coming from?  I'm
on 7-STABLE, i386, linux-base-fc4.

Best,
Steve