So my problem is pretty simple. I just installed Debian onto one of my old computers to use it as a server. I am trying to download and install apache2 using "apt-get install apache2". However, when I type that, I get this error:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Package apache2 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 apache2 has no installation candidate

First let me get a few things out of the way. Yes I am logged in with root privileges by using "su" and logging in before I use apt-get ("sudo" isn't on this system for w/e reason). I have also looked around on Google without too much luck.

Does anyone know what the problem is and how to fix it? Thanks in advance!

My guess would be that your repositories are not configured properly in /etc/apt/sources.list .

Here is my /etc/apt/sources.list :

#
# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r3 _Etch_ - Official i386 NETINST Binary-1 20080218-14:15]/ etch contrib main

deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r3 _Etch_ - Official i386 NETINST Binary-1 20080218-14:15]/ etch contrib main

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

get rid of the line for cdrom (put # in front of it)

add the following 2 lines:

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


Save it and do 'apt-get update' and see if it helps.

Ok, I think I had tried to uncomment that one line before and it didn't work, so I just put it back. I also just noticed that both those lines are exactly the same...weird. Ok I'm going to try to comment that line out and add those two other lines now......

YES! It worked. I really thought it was a problem with my repositories. Ok, well I will set apache2 up later. I am working pretty much all day.

Someone else also recommended adding the following repositories:

deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free
deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free

Should I? It doesn't seem like it could be a problem to have more repositories.

Thanks again!