[SOLVED] Repositories can't be edited via synaptic

[chemab]

Synaptic>settings>repositories gives

Repositories changed
The repository information has changed. You have to click on the "Reload" button for your changes to take effect

But this keeps on going after several "reloads".

A pic is attached here

[PatH57]

Hi,

some more info would be nice.

What Mint are you using?
Witch version of synaptic ?
was it working before?
did you install or update something before you swa this behaviour?
and whatever may sound relevant to the problem you see...

[chemab]

Hi,

some more info would be nice.

What Mint are you using?
Witch version of synaptic ?
was it working before?
did you install or update something before you swa this behaviour?
and whatever may sound relevant to the problem you see...

Actually, I see this behaviour in *buntu distros

I could not find the Other OS section. So, posted here.
It's on lubuntu, xubuntu, ubuntu 14.04, but not on mint 17. I have both lubuntu 14.04 & mint 17 mate installed. Just curious to know why it happens in buntus and not in mint.

[PatH57]

Hi,

did you add any ppa to your system? Thaht can break the process
Also an incomplet update may do the same
Lot's of reason for somthing like this to happen, Mint,ubuntu ,lubuntu they all have a tailored way to get updates.

I'm using this (under ubuntu) to check or edit my depositeries.

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sudo cp -i /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list_backup

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gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

make your changes you can add # infront of a line that looks suspicious (it will not run it)
Close the file

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sudo apt-get update

[karlchen]

Hello, chemab.

It's on lubuntu, xubuntu, ubuntu 14.04, but not on mint 17. I have both lubuntu 14.04 & mint 17 mate installed. Just curious to know why it happens in buntus and not in mint.

Moved thread to "Chat about Linux", because the reported issue is experienced on various genuine Ubuntu editions, not on Linux Mint.
Mint uses "Software Sources" which is not identical to the genuine Ubuntu module software-properties-gtk.

Synaptic>settings>repositories gives
Repositories changed

Not reproduced here on Ubuntu 14.04 64-bit Unity desktop. Works as expected. - Synaptic version 0.81.1.

You may know that on Ubuntu 14.04 our favourite programme inxi is available now in the default repositories. Unless you have already installed it, could you be bothered to install it, please, and post the output of

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inxi -r

plus

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sudo apt-get update

(also requested by PatH57) Both outputs together should reveal errors in the repository lists provided there are any.

Could you also be bothered to launch

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gksudo synaptic

from the commandline and try settings>repositories in order to find out whether this will trigger any suspicious error messages in the terminal window (which will normally never be seen, because the GUI hides them away from us)

Final thing to try if you like: From the commandline directly launch

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software-properties-gtk

Does this trigger any error messages? - It is the counterpart of Linux Mint "Software Sources".

Kind regards,
Karl

[Plamya]

Hello,
I've got the same problem in Mint Qiana Cinnamon. As a matter of fact, I've looked into the sources.list file, but I can't say that there is something wrong. There is only one sentence in the list: '# deb cdrom:[Linux Mint 17 _Qiana_ - Release amd64 20140512]/ trusty contrib main non-free'. Maybe that's the exact reason, but me being a newbie wouldn't know.
Could somebody help me?
thanks in advance.

[PatH57]

Hi,

I would start posting the list so we can see it.
Also read the previous post and send the recommended outputs requested by Karlchen.

[Monsta]

From the commandline directly launch

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software-properties-gtk

Does this trigger any error messages? - It is the counterpart of Linux Mint "Software Sources".

Side note: if Synaptic doesn't find /usr/bin/software-properties-gtk (most probably - when the package is not installed), it launches its own built-in repository editor. Maybe that's when it might display that message dialog after you make some changes and then close the repo editor.

[karlchen]

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$ dpkg --list synaptic software-properties-gtk
[...]
||/ Name                        Version            Architecture        Description
+++-===========================-==================-==================-=======================================================
ii  software-properties-gtk     0.92.37.1          all                manage the repositories that you install software from (gtk
ii  synaptic                    0.81.1ubuntu1      amd64              Graphical package manager

[chemab]

Mint uses "Software Sources" which is not identical to the genuine Ubuntu module software-properties-gtk.

Is it possible to add mint repos to ubuntu and replace "software-properties-gtk" by "software sources"?

[PatH57]

Hi chemab,

is you initial problem fixed?

[Plamya]

Hello,
The software-properties-gtk command, gives the following message :
--------------------------------------------
software-properties-gtk
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/software-properties-gtk", line 101, in <module>
app = SoftwarePropertiesGtk(datadir=options.data_dir, options=options, file=file)
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/softwareproperties/gtk/SoftwarePropertiesGtk.py", line 98, in __init__
SoftwareProperties.__init__(self, options=options, datadir=datadir)
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/softwareproperties/SoftwareProperties.py", line 109, in __init__
self.reload_sourceslist()
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/softwareproperties/SoftwareProperties.py", line 599, in reload_sourceslist
self.distro.get_sources(self.sourceslist)
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/aptsources/distro.py", line 89, in get_sources
(self.id, self.codename))
aptsources.distro.NoDistroTemplateException: Error: could not find a distribution template for LinuxMint/qiana
---------------------------------------
The errormessage is about 'a distribution template'. Please tell me how I can fix this.
Thanks in advance

[PatH57]

Hi

open package manager and check if it is installed and if the version is correct.
Also it might be a good idea to open another thread for it or wait for the OP to post an answer on what he has done so far.
Please include details about the version of mint you are using and

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inxi -Fxz

[Monsta]

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apt install mintsources

[Plamya]

apt install mintsources did the trick !!!!
Well, I hope to become a Mint specialist too (still in this lifetime )
Thanks for your help!
Regards,
P

[Monsta]

apt install mintsources did the trick !!!!
Well, I hope to become a Mint specialist too (still in this lifetime )

Next quest on the way to a Mint specialist: try to remember why you had mintsources removed and software-properties-gtk installed.

[Plamya]

I can't remember de-installing mintsources at all! Furthermore, I can't remember having installed the Ubuntu *-gtk also. I remember having tried (weeks ago) to make a music/video server work on this system. I've been messing with Apache/Plex/Tonido to make it work, but I finally gave up. This and Itunes are the only reasons that I still have to put up with Windows (sorry for that). If I can make this work (and I've been searching a lot in the fora), Windows will be removed at once. But for now, I'm not able to make that happen.

[Monsta]

This and Itunes are the only reasons that I still have to put up with Windows (sorry for that).

There's no need to apologize for using Windows. Many of us are using dual-boot because of various reasons (games that don't run well under Wine, Windows-only apps without good Linux alternatives, etc.). Use whatever works for you.

[chemab]

Installed "mintsources"

Removing "software-properties-gtk" also removed "apt-url".

Will it cause any problem?

[Monsta]

Removing "software-properties-gtk" also removed "apt-url".

Just reinstall apturl - it will be installed from the Mint repos. Don't install it from the Ubuntu repos - there's a new version that's not compatible with some of the Mint tools.