How to check if a given PPA or repository is available

Question

I am working on generating some auto install scripts that would work on different versions of Ubuntu. Therefore, I try to keep the add-apt-repository statements generic as seen below.

add-apt-repository -y "deb http://archive.canonical.com/ $(lsb_release -sc) partner"

add-apt-repository -y ppa:graphics-drivers

However, as some repos don't exist for certain versions, auto generated urls might lead to errors like below.

Err:22 http://ppa.launchpad.net/wireshark-dev/stable/ubuntu disco Release
    404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.95.83 80]

E: The repository 'http://ppa.launchpad.net/wireshark-dev/stable/ubuntu disco Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, an is therefore disabled by default.

I know that this can't be kept 100% flexible across all versions without keeping ubuntu version vs package repo lookup tables/if-else statements. However, for my simple purposes, it is enough to know if any given url/ppa is valid or not.

So, is there a way to test this without adding the url/ppa and seeing it to fail on next apt update?

Update:

As pointed out, this question is closely related to mine but my aim is to check the validity before adding to the sources list, also, both for PPAs and repo urls. So, I've come up with the scripts below which possibly can be improved but also seem to do the job.

function add_ppa() {
  local __ppa_name
  for __ppa_name in "$@"; do
    grep -h "^deb.*$__ppa_name" /etc/apt/sources.list.d/* > /dev/null 2>&1
    if [ "$?" != "0" ]
    then
        local __ppa_prefix=$(echo $__ppa_name | cut -d"/" -f1)
        local __ppa_suffix=${__ppa_name##*/}
        curl -fsSL https://launchpad.net/~"$__ppa_prefix"/+archive/ubuntu/"$__ppa_suffix" &>/dev/stdout | grep "\"`lsb_release -sc`\"" -m1 >/dev/null 2>&1
        if [ "$?" == "0" ]; then 
            echo "Adding ppa:$__ppa_name"
            sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:$__ppa_name
        fi
    fi
  done
}

function add_to_sources_list() {
    local __repo_base_link="$1"
    local __flavour="$2"
    local __version_name=`lsb_release -sc`
    local __repo_link="deb $__repo_base_link $__version_name $__flavour"

    grep -h "^$__repo_link" /etc/apt/sources.list > /dev/null 2>&1
    if [ "$?" != "0" ]
    then
        echo "Adding $__repo_link"
        curl -fsSL "${__repo_base_link}/dists/${__version_name}/Release" >/dev/null 2>&1
        if [ "$?" == "0" ]; then 
            echo "Adding repo:$__repo_link"
            sudo add-apt-repository -y "$__repo_link"
        fi      
    fi
}

# example use
add_ppa "wireshark-dev/stable"
add_to_sources_list "http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/" "multiverse"

karel and @pilot6 Thanks very much for pointing out, by combining the pointers you provided, I've come up with the functions above. — abdus_salam, Nov 26 '19 at 13:11
If you post your script as an answer to How can I check if a PPA has packages for another Ubuntu version? I'll upvote it. I like using scripts like this which is why I also upvoted this one. — karel, Nov 26 '19 at 13:24
Thanks, extended the scripts to satisfy OP's use case too. I've also committed the changes to the mentioned repo as explained in the post. — abdus_salam, Nov 26 '19 at 14:19

Pilot6 · Answer 1 · 2019-11-26T11:48:53.647

0

You can alsways check it on PPA Web page.

E.g for wireshark-dev PPA you can check

https://launchpad.net/~wireshark-dev/+archive/ubuntu/stable

There you can see what is available. You can also filter by Ubuntu release.

As you can see, there is nothing for disco if you click "Published in" drop down.

edited Nov 26 '19 at 11:48

answered Nov 26 '19 at 11:43

Pilot6

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Thanks very much. I've factored in your hint in scripts for automation. Please see my updated question and response to @karel. – abdus_salam Nov 26 '19 at 13:16

How to check if a given PPA or repository is available

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