Utter Newbie: Could not download all repository indexes

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secretfire

Utter Newbie: Could not download all repository indexes

Post by secretfire »

I did a search of google for this problem, and found it solved a few times on you forums - but not in a fashion I can understand. I'm hoping you can explain how to solve it in some very basic terms.

Some background.


1. I know -nothing- about linux. I am 'moderately technically familiar' with windows, and used to program, but that was like, 15+ years ago. Way back when.

2. I am on a Debian machine, that has some sort of 'looks like windows xp' thing installed. I did not install it. I'm not even sure who did. I'm just trying to get it to work for an elderly friend of mine.

When we go to update the package manager, I get the following message:

Could not download all repository indexes

The repository may no longer be available or could not be contacted because of network problems. If available an older version of the failed index will be used. Otherwise the repository will be ignored. Check your network connection and ensure the repository address in the preferences is correct.

There is no public key available for the following key IDs:
8B48AD6246925553GPG error: http://mozilla.debian.net squeeze-backports Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 85A3D26506C4AE2AThere is no public key available for the following key IDs:
8B48AD6246925553Failed to fetch http://backports.debian.org/debian-backports/dists/squeeze-backports/Release Unable to find expected entry deb/binary-i386/Packages in Meta-index file (malformed Release file?)
Failed to fetch http://mozilla.debian.net/dists/squeeze-backports/iceweasel-aurora/binary-i386/Packages.gz 404 Not Found
Some index files failed to download, they have been ignored, or old ones used instead.


I searched and searched the forums, and all I could get out of it was 'check out sources.list'. I tried to figure out what to do - I located the command prompt (called the terminal here) and typed: cat /etc/apt/sources.list

It then spit out:

# deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main

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

deb http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main non-free contrib

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ squeeze-updates main
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ squeeze-updates main
deb http://backports.debian.org/debian-backports squeeze-backports main deb http://mozilla.debian.net/ squeeze-backports iceweasel-aurora
deb http://mozilla.debian.net/ squeeze-backports iceweasel-aurora

I don't know enough about anything to do anything else. I literally know nothing about linux. Could anyone run me through, step by step, the newbie's guide to fixing this mess?

Thanks!
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
trapperjohn

Re: Utter Newbie: Could not download all repository indexes

Post by trapperjohn »

The machine appears to have a Debian Squeeze OS. The current stable release for Debian is Wheezy. (In a way it's like Windows XP being superceeded by Windows 7.) Over time the locations of certain of your repositories have changed or disappeared completely. You can rescue this, but it's an intermediate level job.

Go to:
[url]http://debgen.simplylinux.ch/[/url]

This site will help you generate a current /etc/apt/sources.list. In the checkboxes tick oldstable (Squeeze) and tick the box for your architecture (probably x32). For now, just pick the Main and Security sources and don't include source code.

After the wizard runs you will get a list of the things that your /etc/apt/sources.list should contain.
From a terminal, run
sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.BU
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
Delete the text and paste your output from the wizard. Save and close.

Now, from a terminal, run and post back:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

The wizard is usually pretty good at picking the right repositories. Let's go just that far for now.

If it works out, we will still need to get Forefox/Iceweasel properly updating. To perfect this, see the instructions at [url]http://mozilla.debian.net/[/url]. There will be additional gymnastics to clear the gpg fault.

BTW
Because this is an intervention on a computer with an unknown history, you may want to consider scraping the Squeeze install and putting a newer distro on it. The Looks Like Windows thing bugs me.
secretfire

Re: Utter Newbie: Could not download all repository indexes

Post by secretfire »

Thanks for the help. The instructions were pretty staightforward. I got as far as posting the output from the wizard into the sources.list.

I then went to your next instructions, and received:

family@debian:~$ sudo apt -get update
sudo: apt: command not found


Whats up?

Regarding the upgrade to Wheezy - that might be a better long-term solution, but I'm reluctant to do that until I have a handle on what they have going on now. If I'm actually going to go that far, I should at least know whats going on with there computer, and try and understand linux enough to set it up in a fashion they can use. I suspect the 'looks like windows' thing was probably someone's way of making it easier for them to use the linux ... but I'm not actually sure it was that great an idea, personally. I mean, they have a virtual box running -actual windows xp-, and making the linux look like windows is just making it harder for me to try and work back to figure out how the -actual linux- is supposed to work, since its not windows, and the actual interface for real linux is far more intuitive then the windows interface....... ..... .... But I can see how it would make moving an elderly couple over to linux less scary.
rpr-nospam

Re: Utter Newbie: Could not download all repository indexes

Post by rpr-nospam »

secretfire wrote:Thanks for the help. The instructions were pretty staightforward. I got as far as posting the output from the wizard into the sources.list.

I then went to your next instructions, and received:

family@debian:~$ sudo apt -get update
sudo: apt: command not found

Whats up?
It seems you didn't type the commands correctly in the terminal. I'd recommend that you always copy-paste commands from web page to the terminal. After copying text in web browser you can invoke paste in the terminal via right-click or a menu command.

In this case "apt-get" is the command name consisting of one word without whitespaces (although it may look strange that it contains two words connected with a dash).

-- rpr.
secretfire

Re: Utter Newbie: Could not download all repository indexes

Post by secretfire »

Sorry for the delay - I wortk 200+ miles away, and I'm only in town periodically. (work sucks!)

It all went fine.

Next, I read over the link you gave me and put

deb http://backports.debian.org/debian-backports squeeze-backports main
deb http://mozilla.debian.net/ squeeze-backports iceweasel-release

into sources.list.

I'm guessing I just run the commands

$ apt-get update
$ apt-get install -t squeeze-backports iceweasel

as per your link?
trapperjohn

Re: Utter Newbie: Could not download all repository indexes

Post by trapperjohn »

With apt-get, we must precede the commands with sudo

Now that you have added the new lines to sources.list, running
sudo apt-get update

may work, but it may show a gpg error. If so, try:

sudo apt-get install pkg-mozilla-archive-keyring
sudo apt-get update

Iceweasel is probably already installed, but go ahead and run:
sudo apt-get install -t squeeze-backports iceweasel

Afterwards, to be sure, run
sudo apt-get upgrade

If this doesn't work, there are some other options. Post the output.

BTW From the terminal, you can read more about apt-get by running:
man apt-get

You'll see that in Linux, "update" has a different meaning than in Windows. Update syncs your package lists with the repository. Upgrade is used to obtain the most current version of the packages.
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