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Anytime I go to update and/or upgrade, apt-get returns the error below:

Failed to download repository information
E:The method driver /usr/lib/apt/methods/gpgv could not be found.

Running: 12.04 (precise) 32bit, kernel 3.5.0-18-generic, gnome 3.4.2
on an amd athlon 7850 dual core with 4GB RAM.

Output for ls -l:

root@nerve:/# ls -l /usr/lib/apt/methods/
total 368
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 18112 Oct 30  2014 bzip2
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 30452 Oct 30  2014 cdrom
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 18044 Oct 30  2014 copy
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 55316 Oct 30  2014 ftp
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 18052 Oct 30  2014 gzip
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 67632 Oct 30  2014 http
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 34604 Oct 30  2014 https
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     5 Oct 30  2014 lzma -> bzip2
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 88256 Oct 30  2014 mirror
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 26376 Oct 30  2014 rsh
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     3 Oct 30  2014 ssh -> rsh
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     5 Oct 30  2014 xz -> bzip2

Output for locate gpgv:

root@nerve:/# locate gpgv
/usr/bin/gpgv
/usr/lib/apt/methods/gpgv
/usr/share/doc/gpgv
/usr/share/doc/gpgv/changelog.Debian.gz
/usr/share/doc/gpgv/copyright
/usr/share/man/man1/gpgv.1.gz
/var/lib/dpkg/info/gpgv.list
/var/lib/dpkg/info/gpgv.md5sums

Please help. I haven't been able to update in months, and now i'd like to upgrade to 14.04 without losing everything with a fresh install.

Thanks in advance! :)

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4
  • Can you edit your post to include the outputs of ls -l /usr/lib/apt/methods/ and locate gpgv please?
    – steeldriver
    Jul 24, 2015 at 19:39
  • This is my first day here, so I'm not sure what the proper formatting is, but here are the outputs you requested: ls and locate
    – casey
    Jul 24, 2015 at 20:13
  • Sorry for the confusion... I edited my original post with the info. Didn't catch that until after I added the previous comment. I wonder why ls doesn't list the gpgv directory but locate did...?
    – casey
    Jul 24, 2015 at 20:26
  • Found this in answer to the differences in outputs: link. Wanted to post it for reference.
    – casey
    Jul 24, 2015 at 20:50

1 Answer 1

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You have a corrupted line in /etc/apt/sources.list or one of the *.list files under /etc/apt/sources.list.d/.

Try this command to spot it:

grep gpgv: /etc/apt/*.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*.list

Remove the line and you'll be fine.

Edit:

Since you somehow lost the /usr/lib/apt/methods/gpgv file, a way to get back that file is by reinstalling apt:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall apt

Now, it will warn you that apt can not be authenticated but just go ahead and install it.

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6
  • Thanks for the help, Ron. The grep command didn't return any results. I tried disabling all repositories but the main ones, and I still got the error. After that, I disabled all repositories and, again, I still got it. I'm at a loss for what to do from here.
    – casey
    Jul 24, 2015 at 17:44
  • then open the files in gedit and search for gpgv
    – Ron
    Jul 24, 2015 at 18:03
  • I looked inside the list files for any reference to 'gpgv' but didn't find anything. There are some .gpg files inside /etc/apt and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ but I can't read them inside of a text editor. I'm assuming this is referring to a gpg problem... and I'm woefully uninformed about encryption/methods. I just don't know enough about it to know what to look for. So, I tried looking in the /usr/lib/apt/methods/ directory that the error pointed to and found no reference to gpgv either... as if something is calling for that method of delivery, and it was never installed to begin with...
    – casey
    Jul 24, 2015 at 18:34
  • @Ron gpgv is a valid apt method (provided by the apt package) for OpenPGP signature verification: I can simulate the same error by removing it from my /usr/lib/apt/methods dir so I suspect the OP has somehow deleted it
    – steeldriver
    Jul 24, 2015 at 19:42
  • @steeldriver, how would I go about getting it back in the /usr/lib/apt/methods directory? Would removing and then reinstalling openPGP fix the problem? I started to apt-get remove gpg (sorry, don't know how to shortcode the text blocks)... and then decided against it when the system came back with something like, that action could potentially harm your system.
    – casey
    Jul 24, 2015 at 20:00

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