Make it go away

try typing apt-get update and see if apt-get will fix it

when I type that this is the message that comes up in the terminal

E: Malformed line 74 in source list /etc/apt/sources.list (dist)

Ok, the message is saying that line 74 in the file /etc/sources.list is somehow incorrect/broken. In order for us to help you, please therefore open that file and copy its contents here, so we can see what the problem is.

To easily open the file, press alt-f2, then type: gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
Then press enter. The file will open in a text editor from where you can copy and past/post it here.

Optional: In the editor, click Edit, then Preferences, then on the "View" tab tick "Display line numbers." Click Close. Now find line 74, and post only that line (or perhaps the few lines surrounding/including 74), instead of the whole file.

> when I type that this is the message that comes up in the terminal

The error message is pretty clear. Edit your /etc/apt/sources.list and take a look at line 74. I guess this is the package source you added to install automatix.

> Anyhow, is there a way to make this message disappear forever...so far I only know to reinstall 7.10 every time I mess up, and that is getting boring.

That's not a very clever thing. It's pretty hard to screw up so hard that you've got to reinstall a linux. Ask questions at ubuntuforums.org, or here at launchpad. But to delete everything? That's a typical "windows" soultion ;)

> I tried to install Automatix2 on the laptop, and now I have this error message:

Why automatix? Automatix way very buggy and caused lot of problems. Keep away from "with this tool you can do 1000 things super easy" tools and stick to the soltions ubuntu offers out of the box.

ok, here is the full page:

deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 7.10 _Gutsy Gibbon_ - Release i386 (20071016)]/ gutsy main restricted
# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.

# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy main restricted
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates main restricted
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates main restricted

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## universe WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu security
## team.
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy universe
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy universe
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates universe
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates universe

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy multiverse
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy multiverse
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates multiverse
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'backports'
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
# deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-backports main restricted universe multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository. This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is
## offered by Canonical and the respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu
## users.
# deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu gutsy partner
# deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu gutsy partner

# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security main restricted
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security main restricted
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security universe
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security universe
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security multiverse
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security multiverse
deb http://www.getautomatix.com/keys/automatix2.key
gpg --import automatix2.key
deb http://www.getautomatix.com/apt gutsy main

If you look up 3 lines, these are the changes I have made:

The first time it came up that line read:
wget http://www.getautomatix.com/keys/automatix2.key

Someone said to take out the wget, so I did so it read:
http://www.getautomatix.com/keys/automatix2.key

and I got another message. Then someone said to add "deb", and I have, but the message in the package manager says:

E: Malformed line 74 in source list /etc/apt/sources.list (dist)
E: The list of sources could not be read.
Go to the repository dialog to correct the problem.
E: _cache->open() failed, please report.

My whole reason for trying to install Automatix was because I couldn't get Azureus to download, and I read on here somewhere that it may help to download Automatix first. So I'm not partial to the program, it was a means to get the program I wanted.

Aside: To be clear, in your Automatix installation, the commands:

wget http://www.getautomatix.com/keys/automatix2.key

followed by

gpg --import automatix2.key

Needs to be entered in a terminal at the command prompt, not added to the sources.lst file as you did. ONLY the last line (deb http://www.getautomatix.com/apt gutsy main) needed to be added to the sources list.

Just thought I'd clarify that as well.

Thank you everyone...this worked!!!!

Thanks ByteJuggler, that solved my question.

In the future DO NOT USE AUTOMATIX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!