1

I typed the command

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

and got the following error

W: Failed to fetch http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/main/source/Sources  404  Not Found

and similar other messages

Previously, I had typed the following commands from an answer on this site Upgrading to a no longer supported version

username-M:~$ sudo cp -v /etc/apt/sources.{list,backup}
[sudo] password for username: 
'/etc/apt/sources.list' -> '/etc/apt/sources.backup'

username:~$ sudo sed -i 's/us.archive/old-releases/' /etc/apt/sources.list

the problematic sources.list file

# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 12.04 _Precise Pangolin_ - Release i386 (20131017)]/ precise main restricted

# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main restricted
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates main restricted
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates main restricted

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise universe
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise universe
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates universe
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-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://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise multiverse
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise multiverse
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates multiverse
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates multiverse

## 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://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-backports main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security main restricted
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security main restricted
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security universe
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security universe
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security multiverse
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security 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 precise partner
# deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu precise partner

## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by third-party
## developers who want to ship their latest software.
# deb http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise main
# deb-src http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise main
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-proposed restricted main multiverse universe
Community
  • 1
user221478
  • 31
  • 1
  • 10

2 Answers2

2

Your should reset your repository by resetting sources.list file which will be in /etc/apt/sources.list

Visit http://repogen.simplylinux.ch/ to generate the new sources.list file according to your Ubuntu version

Backup sources.list before you do something destructive like an in-place sed replace on it in the future

e.g. sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.backup.
Hussain K
  • 238
1

The problem is that your trying to use the process for updating from an unsupported release, when your release is still supported.

This is shown by your error line

W: Failed to fetch http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/main/source/Sources  404  Not Found

It has the release name 'precise' in there, which relates to 12.04, a still supported release. The precise repositories will still be available in us.archive.ubuntu.com and hasn't yet been moved to the old-releases server.

You can reset your sources.list file from your backup with the command:

sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.backup /etc/apt/sources.list

After that your apt-get commands should work.

Edit:

It looks like your /etc/apt/sources.backup file contains the same lines as the /etc/apt/sources.list file, so it would be prudent to make another backup of this sources.list file, then try to correct the switch from us.archive.ubuntu.com to old-releases.ubuntu.com.

Make a new backup with:

sudo cp -a /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.secondbackup

And do the reverse of your previous sed command:

sudo sed -i 's/old-releases/us.archive/' /etc/apt/sources.list

Then to check that it has worked, just do the update part of your apt-getcommand:

sudo apt-get update
Arronical
  • 20,241