How to fix error W: Target Packages (main/binary-amd64/Packages) is configured multiple times in my sources.list file? [duplicate]

Question

I have Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus and when I want to run sudo apt-get update or sudo apt-get autoclean or sudo apt-get install (package name) or sudo apt-get install -f, I get the following messages:

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W: Target Packages (main/binary-amd64/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Packages (main/binary-i386/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Packages (main/binary-all/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-ro_RO) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-ro) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-amd64.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target DEP-11-icons (main/dep11/icons-64x64.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Packages (restricted/binary-amd64/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Packages (restricted/binary-i386/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Packages (restricted/binary-all/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Translations (restricted/i18n/Translation-ro_RO) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Translations (restricted/i18n/Translation-ro) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Translations (restricted/i18n/Translation-en) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target DEP-11 (restricted/dep11/Components-amd64.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target DEP-11-icons (restricted/dep11/icons-64x64.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Packages (universe/binary-amd64/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Packages (universe/binary-i386/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Packages (universe/binary-all/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Translations (universe/i18n/Translation-ro_RO) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Translations (universe/i18n/Translation-ro) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Translations (universe/i18n/Translation-en) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target DEP-11 (universe/dep11/Components-amd64.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target DEP-11-icons (universe/dep11/icons-64x64.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Packages (main/binary-amd64/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target Packages (main/binary-i386/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target Packages (main/binary-all/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-ro_RO) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-ro) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-amd64.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target DEP-11-icons (main/dep11/icons-64x64.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target Packages (restricted/binary-amd64/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target Packages (restricted/binary-i386/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target Packages (restricted/binary-all/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target Translations (restricted/i18n/Translation-ro_RO) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target Translations (restricted/i18n/Translation-ro) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target Translations (restricted/i18n/Translation-en) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target DEP-11 (restricted/dep11/Components-amd64.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target DEP-11-icons (restricted/dep11/icons-64x64.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target Packages (universe/binary-amd64/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target Packages (universe/binary-i386/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target Packages (universe/binary-all/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target Translations (universe/i18n/Translation-ro_RO) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target Translations (universe/i18n/Translation-ro) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target Translations (universe/i18n/Translation-en) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target DEP-11 (universe/dep11/Components-amd64.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8
W: Target DEP-11-icons (universe/dep11/icons-64x64.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:4 and /etc/apt/sources.list:8

And this is my /etc/apt/sources.list:

Welcome to Ask Ubuntu! Please consider providing text outputs instead of screenshots. It helps finding the question and improves formatting. Thanks — Anwar, Commented Oct 11, 2016 at 13:10
This article solved the issue: itsfoss.com/fixing-target-packages-configured-multiple-times — sam, Commented Apr 7 at 17:58

edwinksl · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-20 17:26:15Z

91

main, universe, multiverse, restricted are different components of the Sections portion in a sources.list entry and can not be duplicated for a given entry (same Type (e.g. deb), URI (e.g. http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/) , Suite (e.g. xenial)).

In your /etc/apt/sources.list, you have duplicate components (main, restricted, universe) in lines 2 and 5:

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial main restricted universe
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial main restricted universe multiverse

As line 5 is a superset of line 2, you can remove line 2 using your favorite editor or use sed:

sudo sed -i '2d' /etc/apt/sources.list

Or comment out the 2nd line:

sudo sed -i '2 s/^/# /' /etc/apt/sources.list

edited Aug 20, 2016 at 17:26

edwinksl

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answered Apr 22, 2016 at 19:34

heemayl

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1

It's works for me in same issue on installing signal messenger under ubuntu 16.04LTS
– EsmaeelE
Commented Jul 31, 2018 at 16:45

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Kamafeather · Accepted Answer · 2023-06-19 23:59:01Z

41

BEWARE: that this will delete all your repos and you might not be able to install packages with apt anymore until you add a new sources.list file.

Reset your repositories like this

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo software-properties-gtk
Pick your options
Save

edited Jun 19, 2023 at 23:59

Kamafeather

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answered Jun 4, 2016 at 2:49

Andrew

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3

Will this remove ppa's?
– Mark Carpenter Jr
Commented Jan 2, 2019 at 14:03
@MarkCarpenterJr Yes, if it is in that file. No, if it is a separate file in the directory /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ . A more thorough version of my answer would be to delete the files in the directory /etc/apt/sources.list.d/
– Andrew
Commented Jan 2, 2019 at 23:23
5

Be aware that this will delete all your repos and you might not be able to install packages with apt anymore until you add a new sources.list file
– goonerify
Commented May 11, 2021 at 20:44

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Ravexina · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-26 08:02:06Z

9

I have this problem too,I fix it through the error message:

"W: Target Packages (main/binary-amd64/Packages) is configured multiple 
times in /etc/apt/sources.list:2 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5".

you can sudo vim /etc/apt/sources.list.

then locate the second line, use # comment out the line.

save the file, and sudo apt-get update,the problem will be solved.

edited May 26, 2017 at 8:02

Ravexina♦

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answered May 26, 2017 at 5:29

turingmcc

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Daniel Georgiev · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-04 01:20:11Z

4

This is issue with Ubuntu 16.04

You can fix it with xenial-backports

sudo apt install appstream/xenial-backports

sudo appstreamcli refresh --force

After the second command you will get

AppStream cache update completed successfully.

answered Jan 4, 2017 at 1:20

Daniel Georgiev

1512 bronze badges

1

Not working for me on 16.04.
– Jacques MALAPRADE
Commented Dec 27, 2017 at 15:14

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