0

I recently installed Ubuntu Precise on a 2009 Mac Book Pro.

I followed the instructions from here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MactelSupportTeam/AppleIntelInstallation

It took quite a bit of work to get it there, including having to follow these instructions: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1810275&page=19&p=11215214#post11215214

I have 20GB partition with Yosemite, and the rest of the drive is an EXT4 partition for Ubuntu. If you need output from fdisk -lu at some point, I can post that as well.

Everything works- Ubuntu boots from from the rEFInd menu, and I can browse and do most things. Wifi works, touchpad works- all is well. But when I try to install updates, it seems to stay forever in a state of "Downloading" - making no progress. I cancelled the GUI, opened up terminal and tried something simple like:

sudo apt-get install git

This similarly was able to fetch the package, ask me whether I wanted to download it, I say yes- and then it hangs on the Downloading ... 0% forever. I was having this issue both with ethernet and with wifi. It is worth noting I am able to open the browser and hit the exact URLs apt-get is hitting without issue.

What is the problem, where should I start to look?

UPDATE: Adding output from

sudo apt-get update

It completed without issue:

Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com precise Release.gpg                               
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com precise Release                                   
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main Sources                              
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main amd64 Packages                       
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main i386 Packages                        
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main TranslationIndex                     
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main Translation-en_US                    
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main Translation-en                       
Get:1 http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security Release.gpg [198 B]          
Get:2 http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security Release [54.3 kB]            
Get:3 http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/main Sources [131 kB]        
Get:4 http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/restricted Sources [3,759 B] 
Get:5 http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/universe Sources [43.8 kB]   
Get:6 http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/multiverse Sources [2,199 B] 
Get:7 http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/main amd64 Packages [531 kB] 
Get:8 http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/restricted amd64 Packages [8,943 B]
Get:9 http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/universe amd64 Packages [123 kB]
Get:10 http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/multiverse amd64 Packages [2,697 B]
Get:11 http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/main i386 Packages [574 kB] 
Get:12 http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/restricted i386 Packages [8,939 B]
Get:13 http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/universe i386 Packages [131 kB]
Get:14 http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/multiverse i386 Packages [2,864 B]
Get:15 http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/main TranslationIndex [208 B]
Get:16 http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/multiverse TranslationIndex [199 B]
Get:17 http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/restricted TranslationIndex [202 B]
Get:18 http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/universe TranslationIndex [205 B]
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/main Translation-en            
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/multiverse Translation-en      
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/restricted Translation-en      
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/universe Translation-en        
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise Release.gpg                           
Get:19 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates Release.gpg [198 B]
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports Release.gpg
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise Release              
Get:20 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates Release [196 kB]
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports Release                    
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/main Sources                         
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/restricted Sources                   
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/universe Sources                     
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/multiverse Sources                   
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/main amd64 Packages                  
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/restricted amd64 Packages            
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/universe amd64 Packages              
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/multiverse amd64 Packages            
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/main i386 Packages                   
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/restricted i386 Packages             
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/universe i386 Packages               
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/multiverse i386 Packages             
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/main TranslationIndex                
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/multiverse TranslationIndex          
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/restricted TranslationIndex          
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/universe TranslationIndex            
Get:21 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/main Sources [490 kB]     
Get:22 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/restricted Sources [7,981 B]
Get:23 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/universe Sources [122 kB] 
Get:24 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/multiverse Sources [9,714 B]
Get:25 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/main amd64 Packages [917 kB]
Get:26 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/restricted amd64 Packages [13.6 kB]
Get:27 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/universe amd64 Packages [268 kB]
Get:28 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/multiverse amd64 Packages [16.5 kB]
Get:29 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/main i386 Packages [969 kB]
Get:30 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/restricted i386 Packages [13.6 kB]
Get:31 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/universe i386 Packages [277 kB]
Get:32 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/multiverse i386 Packages [16.7 kB]
Get:33 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/main TranslationIndex [10.6 kB]
Get:34 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/multiverse TranslationIndex [7,613 B]
Get:35 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/restricted TranslationIndex [7,297 B]
Get:36 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/universe TranslationIndex [8,333 B]
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/main Sources               
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/restricted Sources         
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/universe Sources           
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/multiverse Sources         
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/main amd64 Packages        
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/restricted amd64 Packages  
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/universe amd64 Packages    
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/multiverse amd64 Packages  
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/main i386 Packages         
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/restricted i386 Packages   
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/universe i386 Packages     
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/multiverse i386 Packages   
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/main TranslationIndex      
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/multiverse TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/restricted TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/universe TranslationIndex  
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/main Translation-en                  
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/multiverse Translation-en            
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/restricted Translation-en            
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/universe Translation-en              
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/main Translation-en          
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/multiverse Translation-en    
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/restricted Translation-en    
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/universe Translation-en      
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/main Translation-en        
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/multiverse Translation-en  
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/restricted Translation-en  
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/universe Translation-en    
Fetched 4,971 kB in 4min 2s (20.5 kB/s)                                       
Reading package lists... Done

Thanks for reading,

Brandon

1 Answer 1

0

Since it seems your Internet access is working, it would seem the problem lies more with the apt subsystem.

  1. Have you refreshed the package lists from the repositories, using

    sudo apt-get update

  2. Is environment variable HTTP_PROXY set by any means? It should not be needed in most setups. If necessary, unset it using

    export HTTP_PROXY=""

  3. Even though the network access seems to work, it may be good to make sure your name resolving is working also from the command line. Try to download a package directly, such as

    wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/a/apt/apt-doc_0.7.25.3ubuntu7_all.deb

  4. It may also be that some dependencies are not being calculated correctly. To help the system do this correctly, you can upgrade the complete system, such as:

    apt-get install aptitude ; aptitude safe-upgrade

This will help get all the packages in a similar state.

Hope this helps.

10
  • I had run sudo apt-get update before running sudo apt-get install git. No apparent issues from that - though I can double check the output. I will have to check on HTTP_PROXY, but this is a fresh install where I haven't modified anything ... I doubt this is the issue. Jul 21, 2015 at 16:07
  • @bfosterscripps Thought you would, just being complete (have failed that one myself once or twice...). The update did run correctly, didn't it? As in downloading package lists and not reporting any errors?
    – ALAN WARD
    Jul 21, 2015 at 16:12
  • Yes - there were no errors. I will have to double check this afternoon - but I'm fairly certain sudo apt-get update ran and completed without issue. It did fetch something, the output looked fairly normal. Jul 21, 2015 at 16:18
  • @ALAN-WAKE, I updated the description to include the sudo apt-get update output - no problems. The wget command you provided runs fine and downloads the .deb file. echo "$HTTP_PROXY" returns just a newline... so that isn't an issue. Jul 22, 2015 at 1:04
  • OK, so this is definitely a problem inside apt. Sometimes there is a dependency issue that is not quite calculated correctly. You could try upgrading the whole system to the lastest packages - if apt-get is willing to install aptitude. Have update my answer (point 4).
    – ALAN WARD
    Jul 22, 2015 at 6:46

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