diff --git a/paccache b/paccache
index 93819c6..ee19933 100755
--- a/paccache
+++ b/paccache
@@ -296,15 +296,7 @@ size_to_human() {
 
 runcmd() {
 	if (( needsroot && EUID != 0 )); then
-		msg "Privilege escalation required"
-		if sudo -v &>/dev/null && sudo -l &>/dev/null; then
-			sudo "$@"
-		else
-			printf '%s ' 'root'
-			su -c "$(printf '%q ' "$@")"
-		fi
-	else
-		"$@"
+		die 'you cannot perform this operation unless you are root.'
 	fi
 }