Different slant on Chrome update problem

[Superannuated]

This computer is on 17.3 Cinnamon 64-bit.

Yesterday I added "[arch=amd64]" to the Google repository in the Additional Repositories of the Update Manager and updated the cache. In addition, I added that same phrase to the text file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list because the first modification didn't automatically change the text file (as some suggested it would). Combined the two modifications fixed the Update Manager problem.

The fix didn't last long. Today I got the red X with the message that it "Failed to fetch" Chrome. I uninstalled Chrome stable (64-bit version) that I had installed a couple of weeks ago, then reinstalled Chrome and made double sure it was the 64-bit stable version. I also looked at the Google repository address in the Update Manager and "[arch=amd64]" was no longer there, although "[arch=amd64]" was still in the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list file. I added the phrase to the Google repository address (again) and for now the problem is rectified.

Is this Update problem going to persist? Is it Google's error or something in Mint?

[Fred Barclay]

If you look at the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list file, it mentions that any configurations you make can be overwritten:

### THIS FILE IS AUTOMATICALLY CONFIGURED ###
# You may comment out this entry, but any other modifications may be lost.
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main

So I'd say it's Google's fault. It's pretty annoying too--I keep on adding [arch=amd64] and sure enough, it keeps on being changed to the original.

Hopefully they'll push out a fix soon.

[Superannuated]

Thanks, Fred. Yeah, again this morning Google deleted "[arch=amd64]". But this time it was deleted from the /etc text file AND the Update Manager. So I unchecked Google as an Additional repository and that removed the red X after an Update Manager refresh. The only thing I use Chrome for is to watch an occasional Netflix movie, so no big loss to me.

[Pjotr]

On my test rig I added the arch=amd64 switch to the line that's accessible by means of Software Sources (section Additional repositories). And only there. No modifications in other configuration files.

I did this several days ago. Since then, on that test rig, no more error reports in Update Manager whatsoever.

On my main machine I tolerate the error, because I think it's something that Google will fix soon. And I'd like to notice it when that happens.

--- Edit: on my test rig the problem has reappeared.... The repo line has reverted.

[Superannuated]

--- Edit: on my test rig the problem has reappeared.... The repo line has reverted.

In the Update Manager and the Red ""X" thread in this forum, Kendoori (see p. 2) provided a link to what appears to be a more permanent solution. I tried it and it works so far.

One should read Kendoori's post or the comments section at omgubuntu because the commands vary with the Chrome you have installed, e.g., beta or stable.

The attachment below is the post with the solution for the stable Chrome.

Screenshot_omgubuntu.co.uk.pdf

(92.9 KiB) Downloaded 42 times

[Pjotr]

This should be a permanent solution which doesn't get reverted:

Code: Select all

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list

Comment out the existing repo line with a hash tag:

Code: Select all

# deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main

Save and close.

Then create another list file with a slightly different name, which won't be overwritten because of that name difference:

Code: Select all

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/chrome.list

Copy/paste this line into it:

Code: Select all

deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main

Save and close.

(slightly improved version of the solution published at Distrowatch: http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20160307#news )

But it's probably best to just wait until Google fixes this. After all, it's an innocent bug which doesn't prevent you from getting updates for Google Chrome....

[don250r]

After you add the [arch=amd64], just make the file read-only with:

Code: Select all

 $ sudo chmod 0444 /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list