Re: etch repository problems ? - apt-get, aptitude, synaptic

["Russell L. Harris" <rlharris@oplink.net>]

Liam O'Toole wrote:
> On Sun, 29 Oct 2006 04:08:41 -0600
> "Russell L. Harris" <rlharris@oplink.net> wrote:
>
> > Liam O'Toole wrote:
> > > On Sun, 29 Oct 2006 02:33:46 -0600
> > > "Russell L. Harris" <rlharris@oplink.net> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Is there a problem with the Debian etch repository?  With the
> > > > following "/etc/apt/sources.list", synaptic stops with the error
> > > > message: "Could not download all repository indexes"
> > > >
> > > >    deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ etch main non-free contrib
> > > >    deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ etch main non-free
> > > > contrib
> > > >
> > > >    deb http://mirrors.kernel.org/debian/ etch main non-free contrib
> > > >    deb-src http://mirrors.kernel.org/debian/ etch main non-free
> > > > contrib
> > > >
> > > >    deb http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib
> > > > non-free deb-src http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main
> > > > contrib non-free
> > > The mirrors.kernel.org sources appear to be a Debian mirror, and so
> > > are not needed in addition to the ftp.us.debian.org sources. Other
> > > than that, I can't see a problem.
> > "aptitude update" hangs with the message "[waiting for headers]".
>
> Try a different Debian mirror. Choose one from the list at
> http://www.debian.org/mirror/list
>
> > And with synaptic, I get a very strange message:
> >
> > http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/etch/Release.gpg: Could not
> > connect to localhost:4001 (127.0.0.1). - connect (111 Connection
> > refused)
> >
> > http://security.debian.org/dists/etch/updates/Release.gpg: Could not
> > connect to localhost:4001 (127.0.0.1). - connect (111 Connection
> > refused)
>
> Is Synaptic configured to use a proxy server? Look under Preferences,
> Network.
>
> > But I am able to send email with Thunderbird (this message) and to
> > browse normally.  Is something on my Debian etch i386 machine broken?

No; synaptic is configured for "direct connection to the Internet".

I just now did what I should have done at first:  I tried "aptitude 
update" from another Debian machine in the LAN, and there were no 
errors.  So the trouble is entirely within this machine.  But not all 
the packages are affected -- Mozilla, Firefox, and Thunderbird appear to 
be OK.  IRSSI appears to be OK.

But something is interfering with apt-get, aptitude, and Synaptic.  And 
I discovered that hpodder no longer is able to connect to feeds to which 
I am able to connect with Mozilla browser.

Within the past week, I installed mutt; so I wonder if that installation 
has something to do with this problem.  Mutt is receiving messages OK, 
but messages are not getting out.

Now I must decide whether to try and find the problem, or spend the next 
few days reinstalling and configuring the system.

RLH