apt-get update fails on 17.04

Question

Running this very simple Dockerfile

FROM ubuntu:17.04

RUN apt-get update

fails with these errors:

W: The repository 'http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-security Release' does not have a Release file.
W: The repository 'http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty Release' does not have a Release file.
W: The repository 'http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-updates Release' does not have a Release file.
W: The repository 'http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-backports Release' does not have a Release file.
E: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/zesty-security/universe/source/Sources  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.23 80]
E: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/zesty/universe/source/Sources  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.161 80]
E: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/zesty-updates/universe/source/Sources  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.161 80]
E: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/zesty-backports/universe/binary-amd64/Packages  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.161 80]
E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

This looks like a Ubuntu problem rather than a Docker problem. Is there a workaround?

Changing to 16.04 solved the problem. What's the problem with 17.04? — Dean Schulze, Jul 27 '18 at 04:46
Ubuntu 17.04 is a short-term release; with a supported life of 9 months only. Released in 2017.April (hence 17.04) it's 9 months ended early 2018; and you were supposed to upgrade to 17.10 (the 2017.October release; itself now EOL too). Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, 16.04 LTS & 18.04 LTS are long-term-support releases with a supported life of 5 years. If you want a longer life than 9 months, stick to LTS releases. — guiverc, Jul 27 '18 at 04:48
Possible duplicate of How to install software or upgrade from an old unsupported release? — muru, Jul 27 '18 at 06:57
This looks like a Ubuntu problem rather than a Docker problem. -- I respectfully disagree. — Henke - Нава́льный П с м, Nov 02 '20 at 17:54

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 27 '18 at 04:53

Ubuntu 17.04, Released in 2017.April (hence 17.04) is a short-term or standard Ubuntu release; with a supported life of 9 months only.

Ubuntu 17.04 users were prompted to upgrade to 17.10 (the 2017.October release), however it too is now EOL (but users were prompted to upgrade to 18.04 LTS).

Post a release reaching EOL; its repos are moved from archive.ubuntu.com to old-releases.ubuntu.com which occurred long ago with 17.04; but hasn't yet occurred with 17.10 (it only very recently reached its EOL; in a few weeks its repositories will be moved too)

If you want/need a longer life, use long-term-support releases, such as Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (2014.April), 16.04 LTS (2016.April) & 18.04 LTS (2018.April) with a supported life of 5 years each.

If you were hoping all April releases are LTS; sorry - only even years are; hence 14.04 LTS, 16.04 LTS & 18.04 LTS, with the next expected in 2020.April (20.04 LTS) — guiverc, Jul 27 '18 at 04:56

apt-get update fails on 17.04

1 Answers1