Ubuntu
synaptic package

Malformed release file at ftp.iinet.net.au?

Asked by Marti

Hi, I used the Software Sources utility to choose ftp.iinet.net.au as my mirror, but apt-get update is now failing with "Unable to find expected entry" errors.

=== output ===
[lubu]# apt-get update
Hit http://ftp.iinet.net.au hardy Release.gpg
Ign http://ftp.iinet.net.au hardy/main Translation-en_AU
Ign http://ftp.iinet.net.au hardy/restricted Translation-en_AU
[...]
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy/main Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy/restricted Sources
W: Failed to fetch http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/dists/hardy/Release Unable to find expected entry partner/source/Sources in Meta-index file (malformed Release file?)

W: Failed to fetch http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/dists/hardy-proposed/Release Unable to find expected entry partner/binary-amd64/Packages in Meta-index file (malformed Release file?)

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

=== sources.list ===
[lubu]# grep '^[^#]' /etc/apt/sources.list
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy main restricted #Added by software-properties
deb http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ hardy main restricted
deb-src http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ hardy partner restricted main multiverse universe #Added by software-properties
deb http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ hardy-updates main restricted
deb-src http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ hardy-updates restricted main multiverse universe #Added by software-properties
deb http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ hardy universe
deb http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ hardy-updates universe
deb http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ hardy multiverse
deb http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ hardy-updates multiverse
deb http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ hardy partner
deb http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ hardy-security main restricted
deb-src http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ hardy-security restricted main multiverse universe #Added by software-properties
deb http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ hardy-security universe
deb http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ hardy-proposed partner restricted main multiverse universe
deb http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ hardy-security multiverse

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owen.townend
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Revision history for this message
Andre Mangan (kyphi) said : 		#1

There is something wrong here.

Do not use http as well as ftp.

The line that states deb http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ hardy main restricted probably should read deb http://mirror.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ubuntu/ hardy main restricted or deb http://mirror.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ hardy main restricted.

I do not know how iinet stores its Ubuntu files, whether it is ubuntu/ubuntu or just ubuntu/

Best to check it with a fellow iinet user.

Revision history for this message
owen.townend (owen-townend) said : 		#2

Hey,
  I am also an iiNet user and my (working) sources.list is as follows:

:~$ grep '^[^#]' /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ hardy free non-free
deb http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ hardy main universe restricted multiverse
deb-src http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ hardy main universe restricted multiverse #Added by software-properties
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-security universe main multiverse restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-security universe main multiverse restricted
deb http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ hardy-updates universe main multiverse restricted
deb-src http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/ hardy-updates universe main multiverse restricted

  These have been added by selecting iiNet from the dropbox in the Software Sources tool.

  WRT http/ftp: iiNet's mirror has both http and ftp access via the same address (ftp.iinet.net.au)
  If you are having hassles with http, it shouldn't hurt to try ftp://ftp.iinet.net.au instead of http://ftp.iinet.net.au

cheers,
Owen.

Revision history for this message
Marti (intgr) said : 		#3

Thanks for the answer! There is no such domain called "mirror.iinet.net.au".

ftp.iinet.net.au is accessible over either HTTP and FTP, and both have the exact same files; don't be misled by the "ftp" in the domain name. The Software Sources utility also lists the same domain name for both HTTP and FTP.

(Just to be sure I tried replacing all http:// URLs with ftp:// and I'm still getting the same error)

Revision history for this message
Best owen.townend (owen-townend) said : 		#4

Hey,
  Looking again at the error message you're getting I believe the problem is that iiNet doesn't mirror the Canonical Partner repository.
  Remove 'partner' from your iiNet sources.list lines and add a different repo for it such as:

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy partner
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy partner

cheers,
Owen.

Revision history for this message
Marti (intgr) said : 		#5

Oh, that explains it, thanks!

But shouldn't Software Sources be fixed so that it wouldn't attempt to add non-existing repositories?

Revision history for this message
owen.townend (owen-townend) said : 		#6

Since upgrading to 8.04 I haven't seen the partner checkbox in the Software Sources selection applet.
How was 'partner' added to your sources.list lines?

Revision history for this message
Marti (intgr) said : 		#7

You're right, that line was a leftover from when I manually modified my sources.list file, before using Software Sources.
Sorry about the bogus bug report!

Revision history for this message
Marti (intgr) said : 		#8

Thanks owen.townend, that solved my question.