Unable to update or install any software in Linux mint 17.3

2

This is the error that throws up:

W: Failed to fetch http://packages.domain.com/dists/trusty/InRelease  

W: Failed to fetch http://packages.domain.com/dists/trusty/Release.gpg  Unable to connect to packages.domain.com:http:

W: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

Also have error in fontconfig and dpkg where this error throws up sometimes :

E: fontconfig: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1

need help in solving this.

Thanks in advance for taking your time.

Jayanthan

Posted 2017-02-17T12:51:06.343

Reputation: 23

1packages.domain.com seems to be a bad address (or is down). try again later or find another repository mirror. https://www.linuxmint.com/mirrors.php – quixotic – 2017-02-17T13:04:54.617

The answers on this thread are more helpful and clearer than those on the linked answer. Also, this question has an accepted answer while the linked post does not. – music2myear – 2017-02-22T00:55:14.137

Answers

0

Links you are referencing are outdated (actually it was a bug in distribution). Disable it in "Software Sources" (or comment them out /etc/apt/sources.list ) and refresh updates.

Check also content of file:
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list

It should contain at least:

deb http://packages.linuxmint.com rosa main upstream import 
deb http://extra.linuxmint.com rosa main
deb http://cosmos.cites.illinois.edu/pub/ubuntu trusty main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://cosmos.cites.illinois.edu/pub/ubuntu trusty-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-security main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ trusty partner

And comment out broken packages in this file.

To remove broken links - click on menu button in the left bottom corner and in the search field type: "Software sources", click on it and check all software sources for the presence of broken repositories.

Also make sure that packages:

libcurl3-gnutls
apt-transport-https

are installed.

Some repositories switched to https and if these packages are not installed you may get
Failed to fetch error again.

Regarding fontconfig, try to reinstall package:

 sudo apt-get install --reinstall --purge fontconfig-config

Alex

Posted 2017-02-17T12:51:06.343

Reputation: 5 606

When I used sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list it was a empty window and if I use synaptic package manager to find packages.domain.com it was not available. What should I do now to disable or comment out the bug ? – Jayanthan – 2017-02-20T10:47:06.487

@Jayanthan You need to use Software Manager, not synaptic. I don't have access right now to LM to guide you exactly, but you may try to go to the Edit menu and click on Software sources (should be somewhere there. I will take a look on it when I'm on LM and update my answer). Find affected sources and delete them. – Alex – 2017-02-20T10:58:25.867

@Jayanthan I updated my answer. – Alex – 2017-02-20T23:53:46.880

I tried but I couldn't find how to check for broken repositories in software sources for Linux mint 17.3. – Jayanthan – 2017-02-21T20:19:16.150

I still haven't been able to fix the issue. – Jayanthan – 2017-03-05T19:18:22.973

Unable to view repositories in Software sources to comment them and also tried sudo -H gedit /etc/apt/sources.list It opens a empty file. Need help – Jayanthan – 2017-03-05T19:32:47.220

@Jayanthan Take a look on updated answer, check content of /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list if /etc/apr/sources.list is empty – Alex – 2017-03-07T22:58:31.587

In terminal it says permission denied and in Gedit I am not able to insert text to comment out broken packages and deb links you specified are only there and no other deb links are present. What do I have to do now? – Jayanthan – 2017-03-11T08:40:19.497

@Jayanthan Run sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list from terminal to edit that file – Alex – 2017-03-14T04:33:47.180

Asked: 2017-02-17T12:51:06.343

Viewed: 1 680 times

Active: 2017-03-07T22:56:49.493