APT is not finding some common packages

[mdeflima]

Dear Debian Users,

I am trying to install (via apt install) some common packages, like grace, openvpn, and a sort of must-to-have packages. However, when I try to install via apt install, the packages has no candidate (even they not appear in an apt-cache search), although, yes, they are in the official stable distribution of buster. Detail: This does not occur with all packages (some packages I can find and install straight forward). What is wrong in my system?

My distribution is Debian 10.2


Here is the contend my /etc/apt/sources.list file:

# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 10.2.0 _Buster_ - Official amd64 DVD Binary-1 20191116-09:57]/ buster contrib main
#deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 10.2.0 _Buster_ - Official amd64 DVD Binary-1 20191116-09:57]/ buster contrib main
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster main non-free contrib
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster main non-free contrib
deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main contrib non-free
# buster-updates, previously known as 'volatile'
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster-updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster-updates main contrib non-free
# buster-backports, previously on backports.debian.org
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster-backports main contrib non-free
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster-backports main contrib non-free

Thanks in advance,

Marcelo.

[cooleo]

"yes, they are in the official stable distribution of buster."
----If so, I believe there is something wrong with your command.

[milomak]

what's your output for apt update?

[mdeflima]

Everything runs "apparently" perfectly, apt update, apt dist-upgrade, etc.

However only a few packages are invisible for my apt install / apt-cache search.
For example, today I try to install gnote, my apt-cache return nothing, and apt install nothing. So I went to debian package (buster) website made de download and installed via dpkg -i

After I've installed (via dpkg) when I ask again apt install gnote, appears the following:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
gnote is already the newest version (3.30.0-2).

[stevepusser]

Everything runs "apparently" perfectly, apt update, apt dist-upgrade, etc.

Sometimes the problem is subtle--can you copypaste the output in code tags here, please?

[mdeflima]

Dear folks, first of all thanks for helping, here there is an example of trying to install the package: education-tasks (2.10.47) via apt:

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root@lqboa:/home/mflima# apt-cache search education-tasks
root@lqboa:/home/mflima# apt install education-tasks
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Package education-tasks is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'education-tasks' has no installation candidate
root@lqboa:/home/mflima#

However education-tasks (2.10.47) makes part of buster stable version. As you see, apt-cache returns nothing and apt install can't find the package.

It is hard to find an example to show you this abnormality for 2 reasons:
1) I never know which package is not being visible by my apt (some it sees, some not)
2) Once I've have installed by downloading "by hand" and then using dpkg -i, my apt sees it as it was installed by it.

Oh I was forgetting here is my apt update output:

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root@lqboa:/home/mflima# apt update
Hit:1 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster InRelease
Hit:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates InRelease
Hit:3 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports InRelease
Hit:4 http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates InRelease
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
3 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.
root@lqboa:/home/mflima#

[Head_on_a_Stick]

What does this say

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apt policy education-tasks

[mdeflima]

What does this say

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apt policy education-tasks

Thanks for trying helping and here it goes:

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root@lqboa:/home/mflima# apt policy education-tasks
education-tasks:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: (none)
  Version table:
root@lqboa:/home/mflima#

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Do you have any files in /var/lib/apt/lists/? Is /var/cache/apt/pkgcache.bin present?

Check the permissions for those directories:

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ls -ld /var/{lib/apt/lists,cache/apt}

[mdeflima]

Do you have any files in /var/lib/apt/lists/? Is /var/cache/apt/pkgcache.bin present?

Yes, a lot of files, as you can see:

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root@lqboa:/home/mflima# cd /var/lib/apt/lists/
root@lqboa:/var/lib/apt/lists# ls
total 25M
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 170K Jun 16  2019 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster_contrib_source_Sources
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  38K Jun 24  2019 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster_non-free_dep11_icons-64x64.tar.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3.5K Jun 24  2019 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster_non-free_dep11_icons-48x48.tar.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  11K Jun 24  2019 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster_non-free_dep11_Components-amd64.yml.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 179K Jun 27  2019 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster_contrib_i18n_Translation-en
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 225K Jun 27  2019 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster_contrib_binary-amd64_Packages
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 108K Jun 27  2019 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster_contrib_dep11_icons-64x64.tar.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  56K Jun 27  2019 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster_contrib_dep11_icons-48x48.tar.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  13K Jun 27  2019 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster_contrib_dep11_Components-amd64.yml.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3.6M Jul  3  2019 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster_main_dep11_icons-48x48.tar.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7.3M Jul  3  2019 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster_main_dep11_icons-64x64.tar.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5.7M Jul  3  2019 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster_main_dep11_Components-amd64.yml.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  439 Nov 13 03:02 security.debian.org_debian-security_dists_buster_updates_non-free_i18n_Translation-en
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.1K Dec 13 17:11 security.debian.org_debian-security_dists_buster_updates_non-free_source_Sources
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  711 Dec 13 17:11 security.debian.org_debian-security_dists_buster_updates_non-free_binary-amd64_Packages
-rw-r----- 1 root root    0 Jan 27 06:10 lock
drwxr-xr-x 2 _apt root 4.0K Jan 27 06:10 auxfiles
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    0 Feb  8 07:28 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster_non-free_i18n_Translation-en
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    0 Feb  8 07:28 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster_non-free_binary-amd64_Packages
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    0 Feb  8 07:28 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster_non-free_source_Sources
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    0 Feb  8 07:28 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster_main_i18n_Translation-en
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    0 Feb  8 07:28 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster_main_source_Sources
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    0 Feb  8 07:28 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster_main_binary-amd64_Packages
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 119K Feb  8 08:10 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster_InRelease
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2.2K Feb 23 17:26 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-updates_main_i18n_Translation-en.diff_Index
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  25K Feb 23 17:26 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-updates_main_i18n_Translation-en
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2.2K Feb 23 17:26 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-updates_main_binary-amd64_Packages.diff_Index
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  38K Feb 23 17:26 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-updates_main_binary-amd64_Packages
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2.2K Feb 23 17:26 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-updates_main_source_Sources.diff_Index
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9.4K Feb 23 17:26 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-updates_main_source_Sources
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7.5K Mar  9 17:15 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-backports_non-free_i18n_Translation-en.diff_Index
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 240K Mar  9 17:15 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-backports_non-free_i18n_Translation-en
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7.0K Apr  3 11:02 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-backports_non-free_binary-amd64_Packages.diff_Index
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 153K Apr  3 11:02 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-backports_non-free_binary-amd64_Packages
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7.0K Apr  3 11:02 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-backports_non-free_source_Sources.diff_Index
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  35K Apr  3 11:02 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-backports_non-free_source_Sources
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 685K Apr  4 11:40 security.debian.org_debian-security_dists_buster_updates_main_i18n_Translation-en
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6.5K Apr  6 05:05 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-backports_contrib_i18n_Translation-en.diff_Index
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  18K Apr  6 05:05 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-backports_contrib_i18n_Translation-en
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  11K Apr  6 05:05 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-backports_contrib_binary-amd64_Packages.diff_Index
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  26K Apr  6 05:05 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-backports_contrib_binary-amd64_Packages
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  12K Apr  6 05:06 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-backports_contrib_source_Sources.diff_Index
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9.4K Apr  6 05:06 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-backports_contrib_source_Sources
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 715K Apr  8 14:24 security.debian.org_debian-security_dists_buster_updates_main_source_Sources
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.1M Apr  8 14:24 security.debian.org_debian-security_dists_buster_updates_main_binary-amd64_Packages
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  64K Apr  9 12:10 security.debian.org_debian-security_dists_buster_updates_InRelease
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  28K Apr 12 11:10 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-backports_main_i18n_Translation-en.diff_Index
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.1M Apr 12 11:10 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-backports_main_i18n_Translation-en
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  28K Apr 13 05:09 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-backports_main_binary-amd64_Packages.diff_Index
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.5M Apr 13 05:09 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-backports_main_binary-amd64_Packages
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  28K Apr 13 05:09 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-backports_main_source_Sources.diff_Index
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.7M Apr 13 05:09 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-backports_main_source_Sources
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  49K Apr 13 05:14 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-updates_InRelease
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  46K Apr 13 05:14 deb.debian.org_debian_dists_buster-backports_InRelease
drwx------ 2 _apt root  12K Apr 13 16:05 partial

Check the permissions for those directories:

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ls -ld /var/{lib/apt/lists,cache/apt}

There it is:

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root@lqboa:/var/lib/apt/lists# ls -ld /var/{lib/apt/lists,cache/apt}
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root  12K Apr 13 12:21 /var/lib/apt/lists
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4.0K Apr 13 16:05 /var/cache/apt

[Head_on_a_Stick]

That all looks normal

Are you behind a proxy or something?

[mdeflima]

That all looks normal

Are you behind a proxy or something?

No, no proxy. So, some packages apt handles normally, and apt-update works great. The problem I've reported just happens with a part of the official packages.

Please help!

Marcelo.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Can we see

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apt policy

Perhaps try loading up a live ISO image and installing stuff there to rule out a problem with your network.

[mdeflima]

Can we see

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apt policy

Perhaps try loading up a live ISO image and installing stuff there to rule out a problem with your network.

I'll try that too.

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root@lqboa:/home/mflima# apt policy
Package files:
 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     release a=now
 100 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 Packages
     release o=Debian Backports,a=buster-backports,n=buster-backports,l=Debian Backports,c=non-free,b=amd64
     origin deb.debian.org
 100 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/contrib amd64 Packages
     release o=Debian Backports,a=buster-backports,n=buster-backports,l=Debian Backports,c=contrib,b=amd64
     origin deb.debian.org
 100 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main amd64 Packages
     release o=Debian Backports,a=buster-backports,n=buster-backports,l=Debian Backports,c=main,b=amd64
     origin deb.debian.org
 500 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates/main amd64 Packages
     release o=Debian,a=stable-updates,n=buster-updates,l=Debian,c=main,b=amd64
     origin deb.debian.org
 500 http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates/non-free amd64 Packages
     release v=10,o=Debian,a=stable,n=buster,l=Debian-Security,c=non-free,b=amd64
     origin security.debian.org
 500 http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates/main amd64 Packages
     release v=10,o=Debian,a=stable,n=buster,l=Debian-Security,c=main,b=amd64
     origin security.debian.org
 500 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/contrib amd64 Packages
     release v=10.3,o=Debian,a=stable,n=buster,l=Debian,c=contrib,b=amd64
     origin deb.debian.org
 500 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/non-free amd64 Packages
     release v=10.3,o=Debian,a=stable,n=buster,l=Debian,c=non-free,b=amd64
     origin deb.debian.org
 500 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main amd64 Packages
     release v=10.3,o=Debian,a=stable,n=buster,l=Debian,c=main,b=amd64
     origin deb.debian.org
Pinned packages:
root@lqboa:/home/mflima#