permission denied: /etc/apt/sources.list

Question

I'm trying to install java jre; I usually do it like this

sudo echo 'deb http://www.duinsoft.nl/pkg debs all' >> /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys 5CB26B26
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install update-sun-jre
exit

but when I do

sudo echo 'deb http://www.duinsoft.nl/pkg debs all' >> /etc/apt/sources.list

I see

permission denied: /etc/apt/sources.list

When I do

ls -l /etc/apt/sources.list

I see

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3360 Aug 26 01:45 /etc/apt/sources.list

When I do

sudo mv /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.old
sudo cat /etc/apt/sources.list.old | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list

I see

#deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 12.04 LTS _Precise Pangolin_ - Release amd64 (20120425)]/ dists/precise/main/binary-i386/
#deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin - Release amd64 (20120425)]/ dists/precise/restricted/binary-i386/
#deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin - Release amd64 (20120425)]/ precise main restricted
See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
newer versions of the distribution.
deb http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main restricted
deb-src http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main restricted
Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
distribution.
deb http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates main restricted
deb-src http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates main restricted
N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise universe
deb-src http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise universe
deb http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates universe
deb-src http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates universe
N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
security team.
deb http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise multiverse
deb-src http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise multiverse
deb http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates multiverse
deb-src http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates multiverse
N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security universe
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security multiverse
Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
'partner' repository.
This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu precise partner
deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu precise partner
This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by third-party
developers who want to ship their latest software.
deb http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise main
deb-src http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise main

Answer 1

This is a known issue; when you use sudo in this fashion, it won't work as you expect. That is because while the echo command is run as root1, the >> for append is done by the shell, which is being run as a normal user, so when it tries to open the file target the permission issue comes up.

You can get around this in various ways, for example by using

sudo su -c "echo 'deb http://www.duinsoft.nl/pkg debs all' >> /etc/apt/sources.list"

or

echo 'deb http://www.duinsoft.nl/pkg debs all' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list

However, it's safer to create a separate file for this source rather than editing the main /etc/apt/sources.list file. To do that, you could use the same technique with echo | sudo tee like this:

sudo touch /etc/apt/sources.list.d/duinsoft.list
echo 'deb http://www.duinsoft.nl/pkg debs all' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/duinsoft.list

This way, we leave the main sources.list alone, but the sources will be added via an included file that specifically handles this repository. (This is how PPAs get added, by the way!)

Answer 2

What happens with the command is that echo is run as root, but not >>. Try the following instead:

echo 'deb http://www.duinsoft.nl/pkg debs all' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list

alternatively, you could do it in two steps:

sudo -i

echo 'deb http://www.duinsoft.nl/pkg debs all' >> /etc/apt/sources.list

exit

Answer 3

What this command does is appending deb http://www.duinsoft.nl/pkg debs all to /etc/apt/sources.list. Let's do it in an other method! Just open that file and append it manually!

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Then add deb http://www.duinsoft.nl/pkg debs all to end of it and press Ctrl+O and then Enter to save the changes and finally Ctrl+X to quit nano.

You can jump to the next command now...

Answer 4

Create a script myscript.sh containing

#!/bin/bash
echo 'deb http://www.duinsoft.nl/pkg debs all' >> /etc/apt/sources.list

execute it with (you have to give execute permission to it first e.g. chmod u+x myscript.sh)

sudo ./myscript.sh