How can I fix apt-get update and installation errors?

Question

Earlier, I had used:

sudo apt-get remove samba

thinking that it will remove samba. But it started uninstalling all my applications including libreoffice, texteditor, java plugin software update manager etc.

And now I am getting error, for the update command

$ sudo apt-get update
Err http://snapshot.debian.org lenny Release.gpg
  Something wicked happened resolving 'snapshot.debian.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://archive.ubuntu.com precise Release.gpg
  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://snapshot.debian.org lenny/updates Release.gpg
  Something wicked happened resolving 'snapshot.debian.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com precise Release
Ign http://snapshot.debian.org lenny Release
Ign http://snapshot.debian.org lenny/updates Release
Ign http://snapshot.debian.org lenny/main TranslationIndex
Ign http://snapshot.debian.org lenny/updates/main TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com precise/main TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com precise/multiverse TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com precise/restricted TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com precise/universe TranslationIndex
Err http://snapshot.debian.org lenny/main Sources
  Something wicked happened resolving 'snapshot.debian.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://snapshot.debian.org lenny/main i386 Packages
  Something wicked happened resolving 'snapshot.debian.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://snapshot.debian.org lenny/updates/main Sources
  Something wicked happened resolving 'snapshot.debian.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://snapshot.debian.org lenny/updates/main i386 Packages
  Something wicked happened resolving 'snapshot.debian.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://snapshot.debian.org lenny/main Translation-en_US
  Something wicked happened resolving 'snapshot.debian.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://snapshot.debian.org lenny/main Translation-en
  Something wicked happened resolving 'snapshot.debian.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://snapshot.debian.org lenny/updates/main Translation-en_US
  Something wicked happened resolving 'snapshot.debian.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://snapshot.debian.org lenny/updates/main Translation-en          
  Something wicked happened resolving 'snapshot.debian.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://archive.ubuntu.com precise/main Sources                        
  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://archive.ubuntu.com precise/universe Sources
  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://archive.ubuntu.com precise/restricted Sources
  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://archive.ubuntu.com precise/multiverse Sources
  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://archive.ubuntu.com precise/main i386 Packages
  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://archive.ubuntu.com precise/universe i386 Packages
  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://archive.ubuntu.com precise/restricted i386 Packages
  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://archive.ubuntu.com precise/multiverse i386 Packages
  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://archive.ubuntu.com precise/main Translation-en_US
  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://archive.ubuntu.com precise/main Translation-en
  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://archive.ubuntu.com precise/multiverse Translation-en_US
  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://archive.ubuntu.com precise/multiverse Translation-en
  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://archive.ubuntu.com precise/restricted Translation-en_US
  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://archive.ubuntu.com precise/restricted Translation-en
  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://archive.ubuntu.com precise/universe Translation-en_US
  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Err http://archive.ubuntu.com precise/universe Translation-en
  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/Release.gpg  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian/20070730T000000Z/dists/lenny/Release.gpg  Something wicked happened resolving 'snapshot.debian.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian-security/20070730T000000Z/dists/lenny/updates/Release.gpg  Something wicked happened resolving 'snapshot.debian.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/main/source/Sources  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/universe/source/Sources  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/restricted/source/Sources  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/multiverse/source/Sources  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/main/binary-i386/Packages  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/universe/binary-i386/Packages  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/restricted/binary-i386/Packages  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/multiverse/binary-i386/Packages  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian/20070730T000000Z/dists/lenny/main/source/Sources  Something wicked happened resolving 'snapshot.debian.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian/20070730T000000Z/dists/lenny/main/binary-i386/Packages  Something wicked happened resolving 'snapshot.debian.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian-security/20070730T000000Z/dists/lenny/updates/main/source/Sources  Something wicked happened resolving 'snapshot.debian.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian-security/20070730T000000Z/dists/lenny/updates/main/binary-i386/Packages  Something wicked happened resolving 'snapshot.debian.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian/20070730T000000Z/dists/lenny/main/i18n/Translation-en_US  Something wicked happened resolving 'snapshot.debian.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian/20070730T000000Z/dists/lenny/main/i18n/Translation-en  Something wicked happened resolving 'snapshot.debian.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian-security/20070730T000000Z/dists/lenny/updates/main/i18n/Translation-en_US  Something wicked happened resolving 'snapshot.debian.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian-security/20070730T000000Z/dists/lenny/updates/main/i18n/Translation-en  Something wicked happened resolving 'snapshot.debian.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/main/i18n/Translation-en_US  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/main/i18n/Translation-en  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/multiverse/i18n/Translation-en_US  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/multiverse/i18n/Translation-en  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/restricted/i18n/Translation-en_US  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/restricted/i18n/Translation-en  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/universe/i18n/Translation-en_US  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/universe/i18n/Translation-en  Something wicked happened resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

Further while trying to install any application, i get the error, in this case for installing vim:-

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Package vim-gnome is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'vim-gnome' has no installation candidate

Any help is appreciated. Thank you

Solution

-5 - No address associated with hostname

This error occurs mainly because of invalid or misspelled host name inside /etc/apt/sources.list file.So try the below commands,

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list.save /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo apt-get update

Note: Before running the above commands please check for /etc/apt/sources.list.save file.If the file was not present then run,

sudo mv /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.bak
sudo touch /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu $(lsb_release -sc) main universe restricted multiverse"

And also enable other software repositories in Software and Updates.Finally run,

sudo apt-get update

Install vim-gnome package by running,

sudo apt-get install vim-gnome

Comments

[Dan]

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