Ubuntu – Unable to locate any package error

10.10aptinstallation

Just a second before closing my question as duplicated, I want to say I have already looked at the other similar questions and didnt find any appropriate answer :(.

I have a clean set up of Ubuntu 10.10, and I am trying to install packeges by apt-get comamnd. But I cann't do it – E: Unable to locate package error is shown. I am trying the following commands:

sudo apt-get install build-essential,
sudo apt-get insatll update etc.

I have looked in another qouestions and saw that it depends on the sources.list file – so I am posting its content:

#deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 10.10 _Maverick Meerkat_ - Release amd64 (20101007)]/ maverick main restricted
# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.

deb http://il.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick main restricted
deb-src http://il.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://il.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates main restricted
deb-src http://il.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-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://il.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick universe
deb-src http://il.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick universe
deb http://il.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates universe
deb-src http://il.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-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://il.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick multiverse
deb-src http://il.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick multiverse
deb http://il.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates multiverse
deb-src http://il.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'backports'
## repository.
## 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://il.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src http://il.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-backports main restricted universe 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 maverick partner
# deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu maverick 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 maverick main
deb-src http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu maverick main

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu maverick-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu maverick-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu maverick-security universe
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu maverick-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu maverick-security multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu maverick-security multiverse

can anyone please help me?
Thanks!!

Best Answer

First of all, Ubuntu 10.10 is entirely unsupported these days. It's an old version of Ubuntu you preferably shouldn't be using - you won't get any security updates anymore.

Second of all 

sudo apt-get install update

Will indeed give you an error (because you're telling apt to INSTALL package 'update', which doesn't exist). What you want to be doing is

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

This will update the package list from the repositories (but since Ubuntu 10.10 is outdated, there probably won't be much to update anyway), and will install any updates found for your system.

You might also want to look at in Synaptic for any packages to install. If it doesn't work, you might want to change your download mirror. To do that, go to the Update Manager, hit "Settings", then go to tab "Ubuntu software" and change the box at "Download from". If you then click "Other", you can select any server in the planet.

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