Problem with add-apt-repository. Cannot add PPA's.

[ocafu]

Hello!

I don't know exactly what seems to be the cause of this issue since it used to work fine after a new install. I've added some PPA until one day (must have done something, but I don't know what!) it just stopped working. This is what I do:

I add any new PPA source (for instance):

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sudo add-apt-repository ppa:satyajit-happy/themes

I get the normal alert message:

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You are about to add the following PPA to your system:
 Themes by Satya
 This PPA contains various themes for Gnome 3, Gnome Shell etc.
 More info: https://launchpad.net/~satyajit-happy/+archive/themes
Press ENTER to continue or ctrl-c to cancel adding it

And, after hitting ENTER, I get is this:

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Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/add-apt-repository", line 98, in <module>
    sp = SoftwareProperties(options=options)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/softwareproperties/SoftwareProperties.py", line 96, in __init__
    self.reload_sourceslist()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/softwareproperties/SoftwareProperties.py", line 580, in reload_sourceslist
    self.distro.get_sources(self.sourceslist)    
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/aptsources/distro.py", line 91, in get_sources
    raise NoDistroTemplateException("Error: could not find a "
aptsources.distro.NoDistroTemplateException: Error: could not find a distribution template

An echo $? command, obviously yields a result of 1 therefore, I cannot add new PPAs to my system sources.

The funny thing is that I can't even access the Repositories via Synaptic GUI. I just get a weird message that says "Repositories have changed" and it only allows me to reload the sources and retrieve any new update, but I can't actually get to the sources dialog window to modify stuff! Really strange.

The only way I've found I can get to the view the sources list in a GUI is using Ubuntu Tweak tool, which I don't really like. I think it messes things up a bit. I prefer good ol' Synaptic!

Anyway, the reality is that I've lost sources functionality is messed up and I can't pin-point where the problem is.

By the way, I'm on Mint 12 "Lisa".

Could somebody please give me some advice? Thanks.

[remoulder]

Try using inxi -r to list your sources.

[ocafu]

remoulder, thanks for the tip. It works, I get my sources list on the console, but that's not the problem.

What I need is to know why I can't add new PPA repositories nor access the software sources dialog window with Synaptic. I'm stuck with the current repositories and I want to have the "normal" functionality restored: add/remove repositories, purge PPAs, etc, ...

[ocafu]

Hello? Can anybody please help?

[ocafu]

Hooray!! I fixed it!
I had uninstalled the "mintupdate" utility and it seems to break the add-apt-repository functionality (!!) Very very weird! If someone has the same problem, reinstalling de Mint update package repairs it. At least in my case

Bye!

[Pvnkmrksk]

Hooray!! I fixed it!
I had uninstalled the "mintupdate" utility and it seems to break the add-apt-repository functionality (!!) Very very weird! If someone has the same problem, reinstalling de Mint update package repairs it. At least in my case

Bye!

Thank you. Had the same problem. The fix worked well Any idea why it happens?

[mody]

Hi,
I've the same problem and fixed it by editing:
/etc/lsb-release
and
/usr/share/python-apt/templates/LinuxMint.info

In the first file, I've changed DISTRIB_CODENAME= to oneiric.
In the second file, I've made a copy of whole "Suite: jaunty" section and changed all "jaunty" to "oneiric".

After this change, added ppas are for the correct distribution.

HTH,
Mody