sudo apt update always giving Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)

Question

So I am on my college network which requires me to sign in to the browser before I start using the internet. I do so succesfully but on a clean install of Ubuntu, when I try to do sudo apt update, I get the following output:

$ sudo apt update
Get:1 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease [2,847 B]
Err:1 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease                    
Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)
Get:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease [2,854 B]    
Err:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease             
...
Get:3 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease [2,855 B]   
Err:3 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease
...
Get:4 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports InRelease [2,857 B]
Err:4 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports InRelease
Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)
Fetched 11.4 kB in 0s (18.3 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
E: Failed to fetch http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial/InRelease  Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)
...
E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

But when I do wget http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial/InRelease, I get this output success:

2017-04-01 05:34:57  http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial/InRelease
Resolving in.archive.ubuntu.com (in.archive.ubuntu.com)... 91.189.88.162, 91.189.88.149, 91.189.88.152, ...
Connecting to in.archive.ubuntu.com (in.archive.ubuntu.com)|91.189.88.162|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 246846 (241K)
Saving to: ‘InRelease.3’

InRelease.3         100%[===================>] 241.06K   110KB/s    in 2.2s    

2017-04-01 05:35:00 (110 KB/s) - ‘InRelease.3’ saved [246846/246846]

Clearly I have internet access from my browser and on wget but when I do sudo apt (or apt-get) update I get this error.

PS: This question is not similar to other threads as their solutions do not seem to work on mine

As I have found out, this problem is happening only to me, not others on the college network. Despite setting up the network according to instructions, this still happens. Any more help would be appreciated

EDIT: So as it turns out, 50% of us in the college are facing this issue, while 50% aren't despite having no issues with the hardware and sudo apt update before the last week. Thanks to @David Foerster for helping me throughout all this time.

As it stands, the issue has been raised to our college's networking department :)

What's the output of wget -qO- http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial/InRelease | head? — David Foerster, Apr 01 '17 at 09:11
Did you configure any HTTP proxy server on your system or for Apt specifically? How is the system connected to the internet? Usually this type of error stems from faulty proxy configuration or misbehaving proxy servers. — David Foerster, Apr 01 '17 at 11:44
The problem as it stands seem to be Apt specific only, that too on the College WiFi. This is because Wget also works seamlessly — Sparker0i, Apr 02 '17 at 15:48
For the third time now, could you please change the Ubuntu repository mirror and try to reproduce the issue? If this only happens in your college network I advise you to contact the local network administrators for support because they know the local network infrastructure and HTTP proxy servers. Thanks. — David Foerster, Apr 02 '17 at 20:11
Sir, please don't get angry. I'm a linux noobie trying to get into the world of Ubuntu. I've pasted another pastie, and the output is fine, just like the previous one. — Sparker0i, Apr 02 '17 at 20:21
I'm not angry. Sorry if it appeared that way. I'm just trying to remind you of my request with some urgency since you seem to have missed it the last two times. Anyway, thanks for the update. What's the output of sudo apt-get update now with the different Ubuntu repository mirror? — David Foerster, Apr 02 '17 at 21:03
To close voters: The issue was related to an upstream network problem according to OP's answer. — David Foerster, Jul 11 '17 at 16:13
I think what the OP was saying was that there is a difficulty using Ubuntu in their environment. You could argue that the problem is with the environment, but there may also be a valid Ubuntu solution (there is for some people with matching symptoms). — Brent Bradburn, Oct 03 '17 at 21:35
It turns out that just setting the proxy is not enough because sudo doesn't apply the user's environment variables by default. Try this way: sudo --preserve-env apt update. Also remember to open a new terminal after every proxy change. — Brent Bradburn, Oct 03 '17 at 21:48
@nobar, thanks for that. But it is now a problem with anyone on the college WiFi, not just me.. And moreover this exists across a range of Ubuntu versions..They have blocked apt ports — Sparker0i, Oct 04 '17 at 12:57
I'm voting to reopen this, because it is about Ubuntu, and the answers here--including the OP's own answer--will help people to understand what that error message often means. — Eliah Kagan, Nov 27 '17 at 03:32
as i reproduce this issue this is due to wrong date and time if you are using HTTPS registriess, — Mansur Ul Hasan, May 24 '18 at 09:38

score 18 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 29 '18 at 08:49

18

I had the same issue. It turns out that apt-get uses /etc/apt/apt.conf for the proxy settings (my browser settings are already set). Making apt.conf match my browser proxy settings solved the problem.

/etc/apt$ cat apt.conf

Acquire::http::proxy "http://<proxy>";
Acquire::https::proxy "https://<proxy>";
Acquire::ftp::proxy "ftp://<proxy>";
Acquire::socks::proxy "socks:<proxy>";

edited Oct 29 '18 at 08:49

David Foerster

36,264
56
94
147

answered May 23 '17 at 17:51

brian

181

2

Note: you have to create this file in 16.04 (it doesn't previously exist). – Brent Bradburn May 31 '17 at 21:55
It is clearly a bug that this is required. A major bug for those affected. – Brent Bradburn May 31 '17 at 21:58
You probably only need the http row. And don't forget the port: http://<name>:<port>. – Brent Bradburn May 31 '17 at 23:00
Yep! First thing I had to do with my WSL of Ubuntu was running echo Acquire::http::proxy \"http://$proxy:$port\";" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/apt.conf and echo Acquire::https::proxy \"https://$proxy:$port\";" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/apt.conf; then I was golden for using apt-get – kayleeFrye_onDeck Dec 08 '17 at 00:32
2

@brian What should I write instead of ? – TSR Feb 03 '18 at 12:40
Just an aside, but you can also check /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/00proxy, it does the same thing. – CodeMonkey Sep 29 '21 at 09:26
@CodeMonkey What about on Linux Mint? There's no 00proxy in that same directory. – David G Dec 22 '21 at 00:46

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 11 '17 at 13:36

9

Turns out it was a problem in our college's network backend. Issues still exist with it, other WiFi networks work fine.

answered Jul 11 '17 at 13:36

Sparker0i

629
1
7
11

4

This does not do any help to anyone. What was the problem with your college network? – Musa Haidari Nov 21 '18 at 04:28
Well, can't say what but they have blocked any request that comes from apt, because when I open the repository URL, it works fine – Sparker0i Nov 22 '18 at 19:07
@MusaHaidari it just helped me out :D – Aaron John Sabu Mar 03 '20 at 09:49
Noone needs such an answer when googling – IceFire Nov 17 '23 at 09:00

score 4 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 07 '18 at 15:51

4

when you having such issued, first make sure the DNS can resolve the links, which l think is the problem.

sudo vim /etc/resolv.conf

make sure you use google dns :

nameserver 8.8.8.8

as the first name server to check. restart the networking.service and you will be good to go

edited Mar 07 '18 at 15:51

Félicien

1,183

answered Mar 07 '18 at 12:36

salis

77

2

The name resolution is fine according to the question (compare the listed IP addresses with the output of host in.archive.ubuntu.com 8.8.8.8) but the HTTP proxy settings were not. -1 – David Foerster Mar 07 '18 at 13:55
2

In my case, this didn't resolve the issue. Haven't found the issue yet, but DNS wasn't it. I don't need to use a proxy and don't have one set in apt.conf, either. – user323094 Oct 11 '19 at 13:07
solved my problem – hzh Oct 09 '20 at 16:04
this doesnt work – NMukama Dec 03 '21 at 16:23

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 21 '20 at 14:36

I know this is a 3 year old thread but adding my solution so that it could be a help for someone in the future.

I too was facing the same problem and it turned out it was because of exceeding the FUP data cap of my connection. On the browser I was redirected to the ISP's FUP reminder page after which the problem went away.

Sam De Meyer · Answer 5 · 2021-09-29T08:31:46.817

3

For me this error message was accompanied by another one:

E: Failed to fetch http://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code/dists/stable/InRelease  Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)
E: The repository 'http://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable InRelease' is no longer signed.

This post gives a workaround for the second issue (it basically disables the bad PPA), and after fixing the second issue the first one disappeared as well.

This is not a permanent solution though, since packages from the disabled PPA will not be updated anymore.

edited Sep 29 '21 at 08:31

answered Sep 29 '21 at 07:35

Sam De Meyer

169

3

That post solves the issue by simply removing those PPAs, it ain't a real solution imho – Patrizio Bertoni Sep 29 '21 at 07:59
1

Good point, its more like a workaround until the PPA fixes their own issues. I'll edit the answer to reflect that. – Sam De Meyer Sep 29 '21 at 08:30
The repo is wrong. According to https://wiki.debian.org/VisualStudioCode it should be "https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/vscode stable main" and use the signed-by option. – lafka Sep 29 '21 at 09:03
@lafka In the official documentation repos/code is the correct repo, but with https. However the error remains with https. – Paleo Sep 29 '21 at 09:27
Same error happening https://github.com/Microsoft/mssql-docker/issues/409 – Kristopher Ives Sep 29 '21 at 10:41

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 25 '21 at 16:43

For some reason, the repository URL changed:

from: https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/vscode
to: https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code

So updating the APT source to the following fixed the issue for me:

deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/microsoft-archive-keyring.gpg] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable main

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sudo apt update always giving Clearsigned file isn't valid, got 'NOSPLIT' (does the network require authentication?)

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