update-manager 'E:Malformed line 60

Asked by Holger

Update Manager is grayed out. Unable to update or add programs. Problem started after upgrading from 7.10 to 8.04 using alternate CD. During the upgrade it noted that Update manager files were not loaded. Trouble box reads:

'E:Malformed line 60 in source list /etc/apt/sources.list (dist parse), E:The list of sources could not be read.

Thank you for your help and advice on fixing it.

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Bhavani Shankar
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Best Bhavani Shankar (bhavi) said :
#1

Hello

You have added some incorrect lines to your file /etc/apt/sources.list, which probably should have been executed in a terminal instead.
To resolve this you need to edit the file /etc/apt/sources.list and remove the referred line(s) that should not be there.
As a guide, sources.list should only contain lines that start "deb", "deb-src", "cdrom" or a "#" symbol, anything else is wrong and should not be there. Please refer to the error message, which should contain a line number.
To edit the sources.list file, press ALT+F2 at the Ubuntu desktop and then type the following command in the box, depending on your Ubuntu flavour:
For Ubuntu:
gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
For Kubuntu:
kdesudo kwrite /etc/apt/sources.list
Exactly as you see it there, then press enter/return. Enter your password when prompted and edit the file in the editor as advised above. You should then save and quit the editor.
The program which reads /etc/apt/sources.list should work again.

For ubuntu 7.10 please paste the below:

#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.

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates main restricted
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.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates universe
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.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy multiverse
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates multiverse
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

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security universe
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security multiverse

Save the source list

Run the update manager

gksu "update-manager -c"

Or if you are on ubuntu 8.04 paste this:

# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 8.04 _Hardy Heron_ - Alpha i386 (20080222)]/ hardy main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy main restricted #Added by software-properties
# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy multiverse universe #Added by software-properties

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates restricted main multiverse universe #Added by software-properties

## 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.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-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.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy multiverse
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-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/ hardy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-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 hardy partner
# deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu hardy partner

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-security main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-security restricted main multiverse universe #Added by software-properties
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-security universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-security multiverse

Regards

Bhavani Shankar.

Revision history for this message
Old_Soldier (charles.davis) said :
#2

look at the file /etc/apt/sources.list on line 60 and compare it to the rest of the file. malformed sources are very easy to spot.

you can use the command sudo nano +60 /etc/apt/sources.list to find that line and edit it. Either repair the line or comment it out with a # and then run

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Revision history for this message
Holger (can0w) said :
#3

Thanks Bhavani Shankar, that solved my question.

Revision history for this message
Holger (can0w) said :
#4

Mr Bhavani Shankar, I found 11 lines with errors. I deleted all of the files and replaced them
 with 8.04 files you provided, ran the update and upgraded files as you suggested and I received 86 updates. Thank you for your help on the line 60 issue, it was easy for me to fallow your directives.

Revision history for this message
luiz alberto cattani (contato-cattani) said :
#5

Thanks Bhavani Shankar, solved my problem. =)