[12.04] useradd is showing an "incorrect" error-message when not using sudo/root

michael@Alien:~/foo$ useradd test
useradd: /etc/passwd konnte nicht gesperrt werden; versuchen Sie es später noch einmal.

(/etc/passwd cant be locked; please try again later)

it would be better if useradd is checking if it is executed as root and if not, the error-message should show something like

(/etc/passwd cant be locked; please try again later and use sudo to get access to that file)

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: passwd 1:4.1.4.2+svn3283-3ubuntu5
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-26.41-generic 3.2.19
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-26-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu8
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Jul 15 18:43:55 2012
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: shadow
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)