elementary OS sudo apt-get update failure
 

Hi guys!

I'm a new to Linux and need a hand solving a little problem. I've searched the internet but couldn't find one. Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Here's the message I get:

Hit:1 http://dk.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Hit:2 http://dk.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease
Hit:3 http://dk.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports InRelease
Hit:4 http://ppa.launchpad.net/elementary-os/stable/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Ign:5 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease
Hit:6 http://packages.microsoft.com/repos/vscode stable InRelease
Hit:7 http://packages.elementary.io/appcenter xenial InRelease
Get:8 http://ppa.launchpad.net/linuxuprising/java/ubuntu xenial InRelease [18.0 kB]
Get:9 http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu precise-getdeb InRelease
Err:9 http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu precise-getdeb InRelease
Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)
Hit:10 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable Release
Hit:11 http://ppa.launchpad.net/elementary-os/[/CODE]os-patches/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Hit:12 https://deb.nodesource.com/node_10.x xenial InRelease
Hit:13 http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/java/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Hit:14 https://packages.microsoft.com/ubuntu/17.10/prod artful InRelease
Hit:15 https://download.mono-project.com/repo/debian stable-stretch InRelease
Hit:17 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease
Fetched 18.1 kB in 1s (14.7 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
E: Failed to fetch http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu/dis...tdeb/InRelease Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)
E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

The getdeb repo has not been working for a while now, as far as I am aware. You should remove that repo from your software sources.

Note that you have a mix of repos from different versions - xenial, artful, precise. This is *not* good and will break your system. Stick to xenial sources and remove any that refer to other Ubuntu versions.

Hi Hydrurga,

Thanks for the reply. How do I remove the getdeb repo? Concerning repos from different versions, if I remove them can I replace them with xenial instead? If so how and where from?

Thanks in advance

I've tried this but no progress yet:

me@me-ThinkPad-T470:/etc/apt/sources.list.d$ rm getdeb.list
rm: remove write-protected regular file 'getdeb.list'? y
rm: cannot remove 'getdeb.list': Permission denied
me@me-ThinkPad-T470:/etc/apt/sources.list.d$ rm getdeb.list.save
rm: remove write-protected regular file 'getdeb.list.save'? y
rm: cannot remove 'getdeb.list.save': Permission denied

You need to put "sudo" in front of those commands to remove things from the /etc folder. Your output is also messed up.

See my signature below to see how to use CODE tags properly.

As per jsbjsb001's reply above, those files are owned by root (think of it like they are in the system area of Linux, rather than the user area) and thus you must prefix the rm command with sudo to temporarily gain root powers yourself.

So, for example:

You can also usually remove repos through an application like Ubuntu's Software Center or Mint's Software Sources, but I don't know what the Elementary equivalent is.

Given that the getdeb repo was the precise one, you only have to replace the artful one. Which piece of software did you add that one for?

I can't remember why I installed Artful, but it looks like it is related to Microsoft.

I think it's Visual Studio. Do you use that application?

A little bit. I haven't used it for a while now though.

Thanks. Actually it appears that Visual Studio is related to the second repository you posted in post #7, but not necessarily the first, i.e. the artful one. I think that the first one might be related to SQL Server.

So, if you use SQL Server, then I suggest that you follow the installation instructions here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql...ql-server-2017

Given that you were using the artful repo before, you would probably be best however to remove both the existing SQL Server and repo from your system before installing the correct 16.04 xenial version corresponding to the above instructions.

After you've done everything, please get back to me as we will then need to check that your package system is stable, since you may have been running a system with packages obtained from different version repos.