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Old 01-02-2009, 04:05 AM   #1
ibkoxls
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'apt-get install' is acting funny

Hello,

All of a sudden, running apt-get install... always the message "no installation candidate". This is what I get no matter what package I try to install, as below:

Code:
famelix@famelix:~$ sudo apt-cache search rdesktop
brdesktop-artwork-gnome - Brazilian Custom Debian Distribution - GNOME artwork
brdesktop-artwork-usplash - Brazilian Custom Debian Distribution - graphical boot theme
brdesktop-config-gnome - Brazilian Custom Debian Distribution - GNOME settings
grcm - GNOME application to initiate connections to remote machines
grdesktop - GNOME frontend for the rdesktop client
krdc - Remote Desktop Connection for KDE
osso-af-settings - pkg-config based registry for maemo directories
rdesktop - RDP client for Windows NT/2000 Terminal Server
remotedesk.app - Remote Windows access tool for GNUstep
tsclient - front-end for viewing of remote desktops in GNOME
xrdp - Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) server
famelix@famelix:~$ sudo apt-get install rdesktop
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package rdesktop is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
E: Package rdesktop has no installation candidate
famelix@famelix:~$ sudo apt-get install sun-java6-plugin
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package sun-java6-plugin is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
E: Package sun-java6-plugin has no installation candidate
I'm running Debian Lenny and apt-get install has been working fine for months. Can anyone please tell me how to restore normalcy?

Thanks.
 
Old 01-02-2009, 04:15 AM   #2
repo
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Do you have an /etc/apt/apt.conf file or an /etc/apt/prefereces file? If so, what's in them?
does apt-get update runs OK
try apt-get clean
then apt-get update
Also you can try to use aptitude instead of apt-get
Last edited by repo; 01-02-2009 at 09:19 AM.
 
Old 01-02-2009, 05:53 AM   #3
craigevil
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apt-get install rdesktop
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
rdesktop
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 30 not upgraded.
Need to get 131kB of archives.
After this operation, 434kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://ftp.nl.debian.org sid/main rdesktop 1.6.0-2 [131kB]
Fetched 131kB in 1s (88.2kB/s)
Reading package fields... Done
Reading package status... Done
Retrieving bug reports... Done
Parsing Found/Fixed information... Done
Selecting previously deselected package rdesktop.
(Reading database ... 203749 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking rdesktop (from .../rdesktop_1.6.0-2_i386.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up rdesktop (1.6.0-2) ...

works just fine here, sun-java is in non-free . Posted your /etc/apt/sources.list please.
 
Old 01-02-2009, 12:59 PM   #4
ibkoxls
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Code:
famelix@famelix:~$ sudo apt-get clean
famelix@famelix:~$ sudo apt-get update
Hit http://security.debian.org lenny/updates Release.gpg
Get:1 http://ftp.uk.debian.org lenny Release.gpg [189B]
Ign http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://ftp.uk.debian.org lenny/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/contrib Translation-en_US
Ign http://ftp.uk.debian.org lenny/contrib Translation-en_US
Hit http://security.debian.org lenny/updates Release
Ign http://ftp.uk.debian.org lenny/non-free Translation-en_US
Get:2 http://ftp.uk.debian.org lenny Release [74.5kB]
Ign http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/main Packages/DiffIndex
Ign http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/contrib Packages/DiffIndex
Hit http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/main Packages
Hit http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/contrib Packages
Get:3 http://debian-multimedia.org lenny Release.gpg [197B]
Hit http://debian-multimedia.org lenny/main Translation-en_US
Get:4 http://debian-multimedia.org lenny Release [13.2kB]
Get:5 http://ftp.uk.debian.org lenny/main Packages/DiffIndex [2038B]
Hit http://ftp.uk.debian.org lenny/contrib Packages/DiffIndex
Hit http://ftp.uk.debian.org lenny/non-free Packages/DiffIndex
Get:6 http://ftp.uk.debian.org lenny/main 2009-01-02-1423.01.pdiff [1905B]
Get:7 http://ftp.uk.debian.org lenny/main 2009-01-02-1423.01.pdiff [1905B]
Get:8 http://ftp.uk.debian.org lenny/main 2009-01-02-1423.01.pdiff [1905B]
Hit http://debian-multimedia.org lenny/main Packages/DiffIndex
Fetched 92.0kB in 21s (4190B/s)
Reading package lists... Done
famelix@famelix:~$ sudo apt-get install rdesktop
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package rdesktop is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
E: Package rdesktop has no installation candidate
famelix@famelix:~$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free
#deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ etch main
#deb http://ftp.br.debian.org/debian/ etch main contrib non-free

deb http://security.debian.org/ lenny/updates main contrib
#deb-src http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib

#deb http://ftp.br.debian.org/debian/ experimental main

#deb http://www.backports.org/debian etch-backports main contrib

# Multimidia
deb http://debian-multimedia.org/ lenny main

#Famelix Repository
#deb http://famelix.com.br/famelix stable/

# Compiz Fusion
#deb http://download.tuxfamily.org/shames/debian-lenny/desktopfx/unstable/ ./

# Google Sofware Repositorie
#deb http://dl.google.com/linux/deb/ testing non-free
famelix@famelix:~$ sudo aptitude install rdesktop
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
Reading task descriptions... Done
Building tag database... Done
No candidate version found for rdesktop
No candidate version found for rdesktop
No packages will be installed, upgraded, or removed.
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 0B will be used.
Writing extended state information... Done
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
Reading task descriptions... Done
Building tag database... Done
famelix@famelix:~$
Let me state again that the issue applies to all packages, not just rdesktop and java, I only chose those two as a demo.

Thanks.
Last edited by ibkoxls; 01-02-2009 at 01:03 PM.
 
Old 01-02-2009, 01:15 PM   #5
repo
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Do you have an /etc/apt/apt.conf file or an /etc/apt/prefereces file? If so, what's in them?
 
Old 01-05-2009, 03:41 AM   #6
ibkoxls
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Hi,
Quote:
famelix@famelix:~$ cat /etc/apt/apt.conf
Acquire::http::Proxy "http://90.0.0.1:3128/";
Acquire::ftp::Proxy "http://90.0.0.1:3128/";
famelix@famelix:~$
 
Old 01-05-2009, 04:01 AM   #7
repo
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Quote:
famelix@famelix:~$ cat /etc/apt/apt.conf
Acquire::http::Proxy "http://90.0.0.1:3128/";
Acquire::ftp::Proxy "http://90.0.0.1:3128/";
famelix@famelix:~$
Is the proxy working?
Try to delete these entries or comment them out
 
Old 01-05-2009, 12:21 PM   #8
rweaver
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ibkoxls View Post
Hello,

All of a sudden, running apt-get install... always the message "no installation candidate". This is what I get no matter what package I try to install, as below:

I'm running Debian Lenny and apt-get install has been working fine for months. Can anyone please tell me how to restore normalcy?

Thanks.
Show us your sources.list and apt.conf files.
 
Old 01-05-2009, 02:51 PM   #9
farslayer
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Could you post the output of the following command.

apt-cache policy rdesktop

thanks
 
Old 03-22-2009, 02:29 PM   #10
radioeyes
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same issue for me...
I, too am having this problem under etch.

output of running apt-cache policy:
Code:
# apt-cache policy <any program>
<any program>:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: (none)
  Version table:
     <program version>
         -1 http://ftp.us.debian.org etch/main Packages
         -1 http://http.us.debian.org etch/main Packages
contents of /etc/apt/sources.list
Code:
# cat sources.list
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ etch main
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ etch main

deb http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib

deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ etch main contrib

deb http://www.backports.org/debian etch-backports main contrib
contents of /etc/apt/preferences
Code:
# cat preferences
Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian,a=stable
Pin-Priority: 500

Package: flashplugin-nonfree
Pin: release o=Debian,a=stable
Pin-Priority: -1

Package: empty-expect
Pin: release o=Backports.org archive,a=etch-backports
Pin-Priority: 500

Package: flashplugin-nonfree
Pin: release o=Backports.org archive,a=etch-backports
Pin-Priority: 500

Package: *
Pin: release a=now
Pin-Priority: 100

Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian
Pin-Priority: -1

Package: *
Pin: release *
Pin-Priority: -1
there is no apt.conf file, though there is an apt.conf.d directory, which contains files on scheduled updating. There are also other non-text files in the /etc/apt directory, namely
trustdb.gpg
trusted.gpg
secring.gpg

Like the TC, this was all fine until about a month or two ago!
 
Old 03-22-2009, 02:35 PM   #11
AlucardZero
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Code:
Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian
Pin-Priority: -1

Package: *
Pin: release *
Pin-Priority: -1
Remove those. See: man apt_preferences
 
Old 03-22-2009, 10:42 PM   #12
farslayer
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I would also have to question stable in the preferences file, when you are running etch you are running oldstable

Code:
# cat preferences
Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian,a=stable
Pin-Priority: 500

Package: flashplugin-nonfree
Pin: release o=Debian,a=stable
Pin-Priority: -1
So you are telling it to look at the oldstable repository but install only stable packages.. thus you get nothing.
 
Old 03-23-2009, 08:24 AM   #13
radioeyes
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Quote:
Originally Posted by farslayer View Post
I would also have to question stable in the preferences file, when you are running etch you are running oldstable

Code:
# cat preferences
Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian,a=stable
Pin-Priority: 500

Package: flashplugin-nonfree
Pin: release o=Debian,a=stable
Pin-Priority: -1
So you are telling it to look at the oldstable repository but install only stable packages.. thus you get nothing.
So would it be prudent for me to change "stable" to "oldstable" in those two entries, or does my sources.list need changed? Or both?
 
Old 03-23-2009, 11:14 AM   #14
farslayer
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Depends what your goal is..

If you are sticking with etch (oldstable) then you would need to correct the preferences file.

if you were going to upgrade to Lenny, then the preferences file wouldn't need changed, (other than What AlucardZero pointed you to possibly) the sources list would
 
Old 03-23-2009, 02:22 PM   #15
radioeyes
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AlucardZero's suggestion worked, at least for the meantime. Once my current project at work is finished, I'll upgrade to Lenny. Thanks, guys.
 
  


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