apt-get doesn't seem to work

cusri2004 · 06-26-2010, 12:37 AM

I could not get apt-get work for the past few days whereas synaptic and update manager work perfectly alright.

apt-get just leaves the terminal waiting forever.

sudo apt-get update
Release: lucid
Please wait...

it doesn't seem to go any ahead of this line.

Onoir · 06-26-2010, 12:39 AM

Use aptitude. Its faster and also command-line.

tommcd · 06-26-2010, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cusri2004

I could not get apt-get work for the past few days whereas synaptic and update manager work perfectly alright.

apt-get just leaves the terminal waiting forever.

sudo apt-get update
Release: lucid
Please wait...

Well that is weird indeed!
Update Manager in Ubuntu is simply a GUI front end for:

Code:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Running those commands on my Ubuntu 10.04 system is very fast.
I don't even get that message "Release lucid" after running sudo apt-get update.
The repositories just update one by one.

Just out of curiosity, what happens if you run:

Code:

sudo aptitude update

Also, what happens if you try a different mirror for your software repositories?

Mr. Alex · 06-27-2010, 12:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Onoir

Use aptitude. Its faster and also command-line.

Bad idea. You better don't mix 'em up together.

tommcd · 06-27-2010, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Alex

Bad idea. You better don't mix 'em up together.

This is true. Seasoned Debian users will tell you to either use apt-get exclusively, or use aptitude exclusively. Aptitude and apt-get do handle dependencies a bit differently.
I always recommend using apt-get instead of aptitude in Ubuntu in order to maintain consistency with Ubuntu's update manager.

I just want to try to troubleshoot why the OP can run update manager and synaptic without problems, but apt-get just hangs. I don't believe I have ever seen this before.