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I recently noticed while installing some packages and using the command apt-get update that I ran into the following error:

Failed to fetch http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/dists/stable/Release  
Unable to find expected entry 'main/binary-i386/Packages' in Release file (Wrong sources.list entry or malformed file)

As mentioned in THIS recent question on Ask Ubuntu, Chrome will no longer be supported by 32 bit systems, however I am currently running 64 bit Ubuntu 14.04, with libc6:i386 libncurses5:i386 libstdc++6:i386 installed for 32 bit application support.

Am I seeing this error because dpkg is looking for the i386 packages as a result of the aforementioned install of libc6:i386 libncurses5:i386 libstdc++6:i386?

How do I resolve this error?

EDIT - (I was not able to resolve this question with simply updating Chrome as mentioned in the other thread, and not all the information in the other answer was present at the time I posted this).

Kalamalka Kid
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1 Answers1

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  1. Open a new Terminal window and run the following command:

    sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list

  2. In the text file that opens edit the file so that the line reads:

    deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main

    The only addition you need to make is entering the [amd64] architecture after deb but preceding the http. Do not edit or replace any other text in this file.

  3. Hit Save. Close the Gedit window.

    Now return to the Terminal and refresh your package list by running:

    sudo apt-get update

    The 'failed to fetch' APT error should no longer appear.

    To prevent the above change being lost, [arch=amd64] needs to be added to the configuration that generates the file edited above:

  4. Run the following command:

    sudo gedit  /opt/google/chrome/cron/google-chrome

  5. In the text file that opens search for deb and once again edit the file so that deb http becomes:

    deb [arch=amd64] http

    Do not edit or replace any other text in this file.

  6. Hit Save. Close the Gedit window.

Sources:

Tshilidzi Mudau
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Kalamalka Kid
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    I think people would recommend pkexec gedit or sudo -H gedit instead of sudo gedit. – DK Bose Mar 09 '16 at 12:45
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    And the post you mentioned has answers that cover this (and in a better way). – muru Mar 09 '16 at 17:03
  • feel free to type out your own answer if you think you can help others better than I did @muru. – Kalamalka Kid Mar 09 '16 at 19:52
  • Why should I type out anything, when another user has handled it excellently? – muru Mar 09 '16 at 19:53
  • perhaps to be helpful (like i was trying to do.. i was just trying to help). Do you think it wise to chastise users that make an effort to help just because someone else did it better? @muru – Kalamalka Kid Mar 09 '16 at 20:00
  • I do think it wise to avoid fragmenting information. For example, the other post has been updated to note that this is no longer necessary - upgrading Chrome will fix this (and the error shown does not prevent you from upgrading Chrome). Your answer does not mention this. And all I said was that the other post covers this better - if you take that as chastisement, you already feel you have done something wrong, which is not my problem. – muru Mar 09 '16 at 20:04
  • My answer did not include that info because upgrading Chrome did not resolve the issue. If it is that simple, feel free to answer the question with that information in the answer if you think it will help users better. – Kalamalka Kid Mar 09 '16 at 20:08
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    FWIW, I like this answer better than the cited source. Short and to the point, not wasting my time. – rgrig Mar 11 '16 at 10:07
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    It won't work. The friendly source file header says: ### THIS FILE IS AUTOMATICALLY CONFIGURED ###

    You may comment out this entry, but any other modifications may be lost.

     – EnzoR Mar 15 '16 at 08:11
  • @Uqbar Im ot sure why you're saying this won't work as it is has worked for lots of people, myself included – Kalamalka Kid Mar 15 '16 at 08:54
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    @KalamalkaKid For two reasons. 1. It doesn't work for me: every updates resets the source file. 2. Google says otherwise in the source file itself. That's enough for me to say "it doesn't work". – EnzoR Mar 15 '16 at 13:43
  • @Uqbar you might want to avoid using absolutes. Try using statements that verify your own experience without contradicting those of others. You might have said "this didnt work for me", etc as it has clearly worked for others. – Kalamalka Kid Mar 17 '16 at 18:23
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    @kalamalka kid I told "for me" meaning "in my very case". Then, have you read the content of the files in question? I don't think so. The workaround only works once per upgrade. Try it! – EnzoR Mar 18 '16 at 16:49
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    First three instructions can be replaced with a one-liner: echo "deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list > /dev/null – Dave Jarvis May 07 '16 at 17:50
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    Had a similar issue with webdesigner: Failed to fetch http://dl.google.com/linux/webdesigner/deb/dists/stable/Release...sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-webdesigner.list - added [arch=amd64] as mentined above = issue fixed – Jadeye Jul 10 '16 at 09:23
  • Google Earth Pro is another one that is still acting up. When it happens I sudo sed -i -e 's/deb http/deb [arch=amd64] http/' "/etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-earth-pro.list" – Dennis May 01 '19 at 16:19