can't apt-get update my ubuntu server

It seems someone has messed up Ubuntu servers so you'll have to wait.

There are new directories (created today October 18th) pointing to nothing, v.g. http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ubu … tu/ubuntu/">http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ubuntu/ubuntu/ubuntu/ or http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ubunt … tu/ubuntu/">http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ubuntu/ubuntu/ubuntu/ubuntu/

I suppose admins will fix that asap.

seem like still having problem , anyone solve this ?

Track down which repository it is that is sending the bad response back.

I suspect it's probably not one of the official ubuntu ones but something else that you have put in there(?)…

Doing a ping to security,ubuntu.com, us.archive.ubuntu.com, and ppa.launchpad.net (which are the three servers I'm seeing) was successful:

root@debian:~# ping -c ppa.launchpad.net
ping: bad number of packets to transmit.
root@debian:~# ping -c 4 ppa.launchpad.net
PING ppa.launchpad.net (91.189.90.217) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from germanium.canonical.com (91.189.90.217): icmp_req=1 ttl=51 time=95
.2 ms
64 bytes from germanium.canonical.com (91.189.90.217): icmp_req=2 ttl=51 time=94
.9 ms
64 bytes from germanium.canonical.com (91.189.90.217): icmp_req=3 ttl=51 time=94
.9 ms
64 bytes from germanium.canonical.com (91.189.90.217): icmp_req=4 ttl=51 time=10
0 ms

--- ppa.launchpad.net ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3004ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 94.917/96.388/100.476/2.393 ms
root@debian:~# ping -c 4 us.archive.ubuntu.com
PING us.archive.ubuntu.com (91.189.92.183) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from zaurac.canonical.com (91.189.92.183): icmp_req=1 ttl=52 time=108 m
s
64 bytes from zaurac.canonical.com (91.189.92.183): icmp_req=2 ttl=52 time=108 m
s
64 bytes from zaurac.canonical.com (91.189.92.183): icmp_req=3 ttl=52 time=110 m                                                                            s
64 bytes from zaurac.canonical.com (91.189.92.183): icmp_req=4 ttl=52 time=106 m                                                                            s

--- us.archive.ubuntu.com ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3003ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 106.483/108.601/110.499/1.427 ms
root@debian:~# ping -c 4 security.ubuntu.com
PING security.ubuntu.com (91.189.92.166) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from atemoya.canonical.com (91.189.92.166): icmp_req=1 ttl=52 time=98.9                                                                             ms
64 bytes from atemoya.canonical.com (91.189.92.166): icmp_req=2 ttl=52 time=107                                                                             ms
64 bytes from atemoya.canonical.com (91.189.92.166): icmp_req=3 ttl=52 time=103                                                                             ms
64 bytes from atemoya.canonical.com (91.189.92.166): icmp_req=4 ttl=52 time=97.4                                                                             ms

--- security.ubuntu.com ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3004ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 97.452/101.782/107.322/3.887 ms

More likely a missing directory or repository data. Best to check which one and send in a bug report to either Launchpad or Ubuntu.

I m using the default source list and the only additional ppa i added is for nginx, i have remove nginx ppa and test again still giving me the same error.

I have try to follow some instruction cleaning the source cache and re do the apt-get update, still no luck …

Like I said, one of the repos probably has a missing directory or repodata.

hi Piki,

maybe can show me whats the correct way to debug this ?

comment out each line in sources.list

clean up the cache ( a must ? or optional? )

apt-get update

to see does it still get the error ?

Open /etc/apt/sources.list for editing. Place a hash mark '#' in front of all lines except for one repository line, and save. The hash mark will "comment out" those lines, meaning that apt will ignore them. Do an "apt-get update". If it works, open /etc/apt-sources.list, un-comment (remove the # mark), save, and do an "apt-get update". Re-comment any lines that seem to give you the error and keep testing each line one by one. Once you have re-enabled all the working repos, go back through your /etc/apt/sources.list and go to whoever runs the broken repos to report that those are broken (remember to include the lines that are giving you the errors).

You should check for files in the directory /etc/apt/sources.list.d too.

@mnordhoff:

You should check for files in the directory /etc/apt/sources.list.d too.

Forgot about that :) I never put anything there, but that should be checked.

i have comment out 2 by 2 , no luck still getting the same error

Apt could be configured to use a proxy, I suppose. I'm not sure the best way to check if it is, though; recursive grep for http on /etc/apt?

apt-config is probably the easiest way to get that. From my home machine,

$ apt-config dump
APT "";
APT::Architecture "amd64";
APT::Build-Essential "";
APT::Build-Essential:: "build-essential";
(blah de blah blah blah)
Acquire "";
Acquire::http "";
Acquire::http::Proxy "http://192.168.1.10:9999";

Pasting the entire output of "apt-config dump" here might be a good idea, just in case it's something really whack.

my apt-config dump

knight@press~ $ apt-config dump
APT "";
APT::Architecture "i386";
APT::Build-Essential "";
APT::Build-Essential:: "build-essential";
APT::Install-Recommends "1";
APT::Install-Suggests "0";
APT::Acquire "";
APT::Acquire::Translation "environment";
APT::Authentication "";
APT::Authentication::TrustCDROM "true";
APT::NeverAutoRemove "";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^firmware-linux.*";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-firmware$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-image.*";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^kfreebsd-image.*";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-restricted-modules.*";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-ubuntu-modules-.*";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^gnumach$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^gnumach-image.*";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections "";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "metapackages";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "restricted/metapackages";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "universe/metapackages";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "multiverse/metapackages";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "oldlibs";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "restricted/oldlibs";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "universe/oldlibs";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "multiverse/oldlibs";
APT::Changelogs "";
APT::Changelogs::Server "http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/changelogs";
Dir "/";
Dir::State "var/lib/apt/";
Dir::State::lists "lists/";
Dir::State::cdroms "cdroms.list";
Dir::State::mirrors "mirrors/";
Dir::State::extended_states "extended_states";
Dir::State::status "/var/lib/dpkg/status";
Dir::Cache "var/cache/apt/";
Dir::Cache::archives "archives/";
Dir::Cache::srcpkgcache "srcpkgcache.bin";
Dir::Cache::pkgcache "pkgcache.bin";
Dir::Etc "etc/apt/";
Dir::Etc::sourcelist "sources.list";
Dir::Etc::sourceparts "sources.list.d";
Dir::Etc::vendorlist "vendors.list";
Dir::Etc::vendorparts "vendors.list.d";
Dir::Etc::main "apt.conf";
Dir::Etc::netrc "auth.conf";
Dir::Etc::parts "apt.conf.d";
Dir::Etc::preferences "preferences";
Dir::Etc::preferencesparts "preferences.d";
Dir::Etc::trusted "trusted.gpg";
Dir::Etc::trustedparts "trusted.gpg.d";
Dir::Bin "";
Dir::Bin::methods "/usr/lib/apt/methods";
Dir::Bin::dpkg "/usr/bin/dpkg";
Dir::Media "";
Dir::Media::MountPath "/media/cdrom";
Dir::Log "var/log/apt";
Dir::Log::Terminal "term.log";
Dir::Log::History "history.log";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently "";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "~$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.disabled$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.bak$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.dpkg-[a-z]+$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.distUpgrade$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.save$";
Acquire "";
Acquire::cdrom "";
Acquire::cdrom::mount "/media/cdrom";
aptitude "";
aptitude::Keep-Unused-Pattern "^linux-image.*$ | ^linux-restricted-modules.*$ | ^linux-ubuntu-modules.*$";
aptitude::Get-Root-Command "sudo:/usr/bin/sudo";
Unattended-Upgrade "";
Unattended-Upgrade::Allowed-Origins "";
Unattended-Upgrade::Allowed-Origins:: "${distro_id} ${distro_codename}-security";
DPkg "";
DPkg::Pre-Install-Pkgs "";
DPkg::Pre-Install-Pkgs:: "/usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt || true";
CommandLine "";
CommandLine::AsString "apt-config dump";

just wonder is this related because I m using 11.04 and the recent release of 11.10 ?