--- bcache-tools-1.0.8.bcache-status.orig	2016-08-04 15:03:50.095602401 +0200
+++ bcache-tools-1.0.8/bcache-status	2016-08-04 14:31:24.507542579 +0200
@@ -337,8 +337,12 @@
 			continue
 
 		if run_gc:
-			with open('%s%s/internal/trigger_gc' % (SYSFS_BCACHE_PATH, cache), 'w') as fd:
-				fd.write('1\n')
+			try:
+				with open('%s%s/internal/trigger_gc' % (SYSFS_BCACHE_PATH, cache), 'w') as fd:
+					fd.write('1\n')
+			except PermissionError as e:
+				print ('You need root permissions for the --gc option')
+				sys.exit(1)
 
 		dump_bcache('%s%s' % (SYSFS_BCACHE_PATH, cache), stats, print_subdevices, uuid_map.get(cache, '?'))