sudo apt-get update is not working

Question

I am using ubuntu 18.04 and when I try the apt-get update command I get:

Hit:1 https://repo.skype.com/deb stable InRelease
Hit:2 http://ppa.launchpad.net/jonathonf/mate-1.22/ubuntu bionic InRelease                                                       
Get:3 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security InRelease [88,7 kB]                                                      
Get:4 http://linux.dropbox.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease                                                                                            
Err:4 http://linux.dropbox.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease                                                                                             
  Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)
Get:5 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease                                                                                       
Err:5 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease                                                                     
  Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)
Get:6 http://es.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease                                                                   
Err:6 http://es.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease               
  Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)
Ign:7 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mate-dev/ppa/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Get:8 http://es.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates InRelease       
Err:8 http://es.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates InRelease       
  Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)
Get:9 http://es.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports InRelease 
Err:9 http://es.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports InRelease
  Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)
Ign:10 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mate-dev/trusty-mate/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Err:11 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mate-dev/ppa/ubuntu bionic Release
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.95.83 80]
Err:12 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mate-dev/trusty-mate/ubuntu bionic Release
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.95.83 80]
Reading package lists... Done
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
E: The repository 'http://linux.dropbox.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease' is not signed.
E: Failed to fetch http://linux.dropbox.com/ubuntu/dists/bionic/InRelease  Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
E: The repository 'http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease' is not signed.
E: Failed to fetch http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/dists/stable/InRelease  Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
E: The repository 'http://es.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease' is not signed.
E: Failed to fetch http://es.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/bionic/InRelease  Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)
E: Failed to fetch http://es.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/bionic-updates/InRelease  Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)
E: The repository 'http://es.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates InRelease' is not signed.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
E: Failed to fetch http://es.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/bionic-backports/InRelease  Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)
E: The repository 'http://es.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports InRelease' is not signed.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
E: The repository 'http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mate-dev/ppa/ubuntu bionic Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
E: The repository 'http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mate-dev/trusty-mate/ubuntu bionic Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.

I have no idea what is going on. What is wrong?

Edit: there is a similar looking question but there the problem was the connection of OP's college. I get this error in different settings so I don't think that is the issue

Can you ping the listed servers? Can you open the mentioned URLs in a web browser? Also look at the other answers to the linked question, not just the accepted one which is really not the best one in this case. — Melebius, Sep 03 '19 at 09:21

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 08 '21 at 07:08

Probably late, but I'll simply write down what I did when I encountered a similar problem in hopes that it could be useful for someone later on:

Get:10 http://ny-mirrors.evowise.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease [611 kB]                                                                                              
Err:6 http://ny-mirrors.evowise.com/ubuntu focal InRelease                                                                                                                 
  Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)
Err:7 http://ny-mirrors.evowise.com/ubuntu focal-updates InRelease                                                                                                         
  Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)
Err:9 http://ny-mirrors.evowise.com/ubuntu focal-backports InRelease                                                                                                       
  Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)
Err:10 http://ny-mirrors.evowise.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease                                                                                                       
  Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)

To solve this, in my Kubuntu, I simply changed the ubuntu repository servers which apt would fetch the updates from:

I simply chose a different server from what apt was configured to fetch from earlier. After this, apt was able to fetch updates without any problems.

sudo apt-get update is not working

1 Answers1