[lug] apt-get errors

[Paul E Condon]

On Thu, Jan 29, 2004 at 03:01:50PM -0700, Gary Hodges wrote:
> Paul E Condon wrote:
> 
> >On Thu, Jan 29, 2004 at 08:01:49AM -0700, Gary Hodges wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>sources.list file referenced the "testing" version.  I ran "apt-get 
> >>update" successfully a few times over a few days.  Then I changed 
> >>"testing" to "sarge" in the sources.list file and immediately started 
> >>getting errors like this:
> >>
> >>
> >>99% [4 Sources gzip 0] [Waiting for headers]
> >>gzip: stdin: not in gzip format
> >>Err http://non-us.debian.org testing/non-US/non-free Sources
> >>Sub-process gzip returned an error code (1)
> >>
> >>
> >>Failed to fetch 
> >>http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US/dists/testing/non-US/main/binary-i386/Packages.gz  
> >>Sub-process gzip returned an error code (1)
> >>
> >>
> >>This morning I replaced "sarge" with "testing" in the sources.list file 
> >>but I still get the same errors.  When I run an update it seems like 
> >>most of the process works and it is only having problems with a 
> >>couple/few packages.  For a few days I thought it must be a problem with 
> >>file(s) in the archive(s), but I'm not seeing any recent reports of this 
> >>with google.
> >>
> >>   
> >>
> >The aliases "stable", "testing" and "unstable" are implemented with links 
> >in the
> >repository file system. It would be very surprising to me, if they were 
> >the source of the problem.
> >
> >I use sarge and upgrade reqularly to keep up with the latest progress 
> >towards an
> >official release. I have seen error message similar to what you report, 
> >but not
> >often. When it happens I rerun apt-get update. Invariably it works on the
> >second try. I don't think I ever saw this when I was using Woody. I have 
> >always
> >it was just one of the features one gets when using pre-release software. 
> >Since
> >it seems to be self-healing, it is not, IMHO, a release critical flaw.
> >
> 
> I repeated exactly as I described above on another machine today.  I 
> installed woody and then upgraded to sarge.  Maybe something I have 
> installed you don't, or maybe I've made the same mistake twice.  I get a 
> message after each attempt to run update again to fix the problems, but 
> it never does.
> 
> W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems
> E: Some index files failed to download, they have been ignored, or old 
> ones used instead.
> 
> Gary
> 

The steps for installing woody and then upgrading to sarge involve (at
a minimum)

Install Woody however you can
Edit /etc/apt/sources.list to include lines appropriate for Woody
Finish the install of Woody over the net (especially security updates)
  (This should include apt-get update)
Change /etc/apt/sources.list to include line items for sarge
apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

Is it the first or the second use of apt-get update that has the problem?

Have you tried using aptitude?

I'm puzzled. Don't have problem like this. I follow both debian-user and
debian-testing lists, and haven't noticed anything like this in either.
The dist-upgrade is rather long process in this particular case because
Woody and Sarge have incompatible versions of libc6. 

Did your Woody install result in a system that passed some basic sanity 
checks? 



-- 
Paul E Condon           
pecondon at peakpeak.com