How do I fix a problem updating my Ubuntu package repository?

February 23, 2008 9:28 AM

Ubuntu geeks: A problem downloading a new repository index. Total Ubuntu newbie, much, much more inside.

The classic repository index problem. The problem seems simple: The location for the repositories is returning a 404 error. I even popped it into the browser and it comes up 404. I've tried Ethernet and Wifi, blow are the gritty details:

This is what I get in Terminal:
cottstephan@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
scottstephan@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get update
Ign cdrom://Ubuntu 7.10 _Gutsy Gibbon_ - Release powerpc (20071016) gutsy/main Translation-en_US
Ign cdrom://Ubuntu 7.10 _Gutsy Gibbon_ - Release powerpc (20071016) gutsy/restricted Translation-en_US
Get:1 http://wine.budgetdedicated.com gutsy Release.gpg [191B]
Ign http://wine.budgetdedicated.com gutsy/main Translation-en_US
Get:2 http://security.ubuntu.com gutsy-security Release.gpg [191B]
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/universe Translation-en_US
Get:3 http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy Release.gpg [191B]
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy/restricted Translation-en_US
Get:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com gutsy Release.gpg [191B]
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com gutsy/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com gutsy/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/multiverse Translation-en_US
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/restricted Translation-en_US
Hit http://wine.budgetdedicated.com gutsy Release
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com gutsy-security Release
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy/multiverse Translation-en_US
Get:5 http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates Release.gpg [191B]
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/multiverse Translation-en_US
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com gutsy/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com gutsy/multiverse Translation-en_US
Get:6 http://archive.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates Release.gpg [191B]
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/multiverse Translation-en_US
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/restricted Translation-en_US
Get:7 http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-security Release.gpg [191B]
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/restricted Translation-en_US
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com gutsy Release
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/multiverse Translation-en_US
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy Release
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates Release
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates Release
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-security Release
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/universe Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com gutsy/universe Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/main Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/multiverse Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/restricted Packages
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy/main Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com gutsy/main Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com gutsy/restricted Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com gutsy/multiverse Packages
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy/restricted Packages
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy/main Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/universe Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/main Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/multiverse Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/restricted Packages
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy/restricted Sources
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy/universe Packages
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy/universe Sources
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy/multiverse Packages
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy/multiverse Sources
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/main Packages
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/restricted Packages
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/main Sources
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/restricted Sources
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/universe Packages
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/universe Sources
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/multiverse Packages
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/multiverse Sources
Err http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy/main Sources
404 Not Found
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/main Packages
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/restricted Packages
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/main Sources
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/restricted Sources
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/universe Packages
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/universe Sources
Hit http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/multiverse Packages
Ign http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/multiverse Sources
Err http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy/restricted Sources
404 Not Found
Err http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy/universe Sources
404 Not Found
Err http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy/multiverse Sources
404 Not Found
Err http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/main Sources
404 Not Found
Err http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/restricted Sources
404 Not Found
Err http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/universe Sources
404 Not Found
Err http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/multiverse Sources
404 Not Found
Err http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/main Sources
404 Not Found
Err http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/restricted Sources
404 Not Found
Err http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/universe Sources
404 Not Found
Err http://ports.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/multiverse Sources
404 Not Found
Fetched 7B in 1s (4B/s)
Failed to fetch http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/dists/gutsy/Release Unable to find expected entry main/binary-powerpc/Packages in Meta-index file (malformed Release file?)
Failed to fetch http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy/main/source/Sources.gz 404 Not Found
Failed to fetch http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy/restricted/source/Sources.gz 404 Not Found
Failed to fetch http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy/universe/source/Sources.gz 404 Not Found
Failed to fetch http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy/multiverse/source/Sources.gz 404 Not Found
Failed to fetch http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy-updates/main/source/Sources.gz 404 Not Found
Failed to fetch http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy-updates/restricted/source/Sources.gz 404 Not Found
Failed to fetch http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy-updates/universe/source/Sources.gz 404 Not Found
Failed to fetch http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy-updates/multiverse/source/Sources.gz 404 Not Found
Failed to fetch http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy-security/main/source/Sources.gz 404 Not Found
Failed to fetch http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy-security/restricted/source/Sources.gz 404 Not Found
Failed to fetch http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy-security/universe/source/Sources.gz 404 Not Found
Failed to fetch http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy-security/multiverse/source/Sources.gz 404 Not Found
Reading package lists... Done
E: Some index files failed to download, they have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

This is what I get in the package manager:

http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/dists/gutsy/Release: Unable to find expected entry main/binary-powerpc/Packages in Meta-index file (malformed Release file?)
http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy/main/source/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found
http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy/restricted/source/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found
http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy/universe/source/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found
http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy/multiverse/source/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found
http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy-updates/main/source/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found
http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy-updates/restricted/source/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found
http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy-updates/universe/source/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found
http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy-updates/multiverse/source/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found
http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy-security/main/source/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found
http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy-security/restricted/source/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found
http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy-security/universe/source/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found
http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy-security/multiverse/source/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found

Going to http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/gutsy/main/source/Sources.gz returns a 404. I've swapped servers, followed supposed solutions all to no end. How do I find a working mirror?

posted by GilloD to technology (6 comments total)

http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/gutsy/main/ seems to be a working mirror, I'll dig around a little more...
posted by onalark at 11:36 AM on February 23, 2008

Start with this thread: http://tuxicity.wordpress.com/sourceslist-for-gutsy-gibbon/
posted by onalark at 11:37 AM on February 23, 2008

I assume you're using ports.ubuntu.com because you have an unusual architecture. As such, what you want from that repository is binaries. And it has them. So it's working well enough.

The "404 Not Found" messages show that that repository doesn't have sources. But you are also using archive.ubuntu.com, which does have the sources. So you can still get them. To verify, try the following (not as root):

apt-get source psutils

In summary, these error messages have no effect. No, I don't know how to suppress them.
posted by yath at 11:53 AM on February 23, 2008

Ubuntu Forums is a good resource for asking Ubuntu questions.
posted by lunchbox at 12:43 PM on February 23, 2008

To remove the errors, just edit /etc/apt/sources.list (or it might be a file in /etc/apt/sources.list.d) and remove or comment out any lines that start with deb-src and refer to ports.ubuntu.com. You can also do this through Synaptic, but I'm too lazy to type out the directions, and it sounds like you know how to add and remove repositories, anyway.

Like yath says, the ports repository uses the same sources as the main Ubuntu repository, so it doesn't have it's own.
posted by dirigibleman at 3:12 PM on February 23, 2008

Couple things going on here.

First, as others have said above, ports.ubuntu.com hosts precompiled binaries for architectures that Canonical doesn't offer commercial support for. Unfortunately the PowerPC isn't one of those any more. You can't get sources from ports.ubuntu.com, so you should comment out or delete any "deb-src" lines in /etc/apt/sources.list that refer to ports.ubuntu.com.

Secondly, Wine Is Not an Emulator. Wine will let you run Windows binaries on x86 architectures only. If you want to run Windows programs on a PowerPC in Ubuntu, you'll need to install Windows itself into something like QEMU, and it's going to be slow.
posted by flabdablet at 3:21 PM on February 23, 2008