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Problem with apt-get behind a proxy after install

Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 4:54 pm
by joselipo
I have just installed Linux Mint Maya using linuxmint-13-mate-dvd-32bit.iso file

I installed it in a computer connected to a network behind a proxy but did not add proxy info during installation.
After instalation, I added proxy info in the config application. This successfully recorded the proxy info, and when I wrote $http_proxy or $ftp_proxy on the command terminal I could see the correct proxy address. However, with the proxy correctly configured, apt-get did not work, being unable to connect to any server.

However, after that, and searching for information in the web, I solved the problem creating the file /etc/apt/conf.d./30proxy and adding there the proxy info:

Acquire::http::proxy "http://IP:8080/";
Acquire::ftp::proxy "ftp://IP:8080/";
Acquire::https::proxy "https://IP:8080/";

Where "IP" is the IP of the proxy. After this, I could sucessfully update my system.

It seems that apt-get searches for proxy information in two different places, or makes in some cases mistakes acquiring the proxy information.

Re: Problem with apt-get behind a proxy after install

Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 5:11 pm
by karlchen
Hello, joselipo.

The problem may be that you configured the proxy settings in such a way that your personal environment holds all necessary environment variables pointing to the proxy address and proxy port. But user root's environment does not have the same variables set.
You may check whether this is the case by executing

Code: Select all

sudo -i
and inside the root shell

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env | grep -i proxy
Executing software updates will trigger root processes, though. So root needs to know your proxy settings as well.

The other problem which does exist is that not all software products honours the environment variables pointing to the proxy. There are software products which expect to find proxy names and ports inside their own configuration files.

Kind regards,
Karl