How do I fix "Unknown error executing gpgv" when doing sudo apt-get update?

Question

I got the following error

Reading package lists... Done
W: GPG error: http://extras.ubuntu.com oneiric Release: Unknown error executing gpgv
executing gpgv
----
----
W: GPG error: http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates Release: Unknown error executing gpgv

Then after googling it I found and followed the following instruction but that caused one error:

**sudo -i
apt-get clean
cd /var/lib/apt
mv lists lists.old
mkdir -p lists/partial
apt-get clean
apt-get update**

While running I got the error:

kapil@ubuntu:/var/lib/apt$ sudo mv lists lists.old
mv: cannot move `lists' to `lists.old/lists': Directory not empty

So once again running the update command I got the same error again. Please help me what should I do?

---

I did the following on your advice and it showed the following

root@ubuntu:/home/kapil# df -h

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on

/dev/loop0             15G  4.7G  8.8G  35% /

udev                  1.5G  4.0K  1.5G   1% /dev

tmpfs                 591M  880K  590M   1% /run

none                  5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock

none                  1.5G  488K  1.5G   1% /run/shm

/dev/sda5             229G  221G  7.2G  97% /host

/dev/sda1             100M   25M   76M  25% /media/System Reserved

root@ubuntu:/home/kapil# ls -al /var/lib/apt/

total 68

drwxr-xr-x  7 root root  4096 2012-04-08 09:53 .

drwxr-xr-x 58 root root  4096 2012-03-28 09:59 ..

-rw-r--r--  1 root root   203 2012-03-24 13:18 cdroms.list

-rw-r--r--  1 root root  7261 2012-04-06 15:27 extended_states

drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  4096 2011-10-12 10:27 keyrings

drwxr-xr-x  3 root root 16384 2012-04-14 06:26 lists


drwxr-xr-x  4 root root 20480 2012-04-08 07:46 lists.old

drwxr-xr-x  3 root root  4096 2011-10-12 10:27 mirrors

drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  4096 2012-03-24 14:39 periodic*

---

When I followed the above instruction it showed following warnings first :

root@ubuntu:/home/kapil# sudo apt-get clean

root@ubuntu:/home/kapil# sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/*

rm: cannot remove `/var/lib/apt/lists/partial': Is a directory

root@ubuntu:/home/kapil# sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/partial/*

root@ubuntu:/home/kapil# sudo apt-get clean

root@ubuntu:/home/kapil# sudo apt-get update

After this it again showed the error :

Reading package lists... Done

W: GPG error: http//archive.canonical.com oneiric Release: Unknown error executing gpgv

W: GPG error: http//extras.ubuntu.com oneiric Release: Unknown error executing gpgv

W: GPG error: http//archive.ubuntu.com oneiric Release: Unknown error executing gpgv

W: GPG error: http//archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-backports Release: Unknown error executing gpgv

W: GPG error: http//archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-security Release: Unknown error executing gpgv

W: GPG error: http//archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-proposed Release: Unknown error executing gpgv

W: GPG error: http//archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates Release: Unknown error executing gpgv

What to do now?

Solution 1

I have two solutions:

• Solution #1 (Recommended ):

  Just open a terminal and run the following commands:

  sudo apt-get clean

  sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/*

  sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/partial/*

  sudo apt-get clean

  sudo apt-get update

  Done! When running those sudo rm ... commands, don't worry about errors or warnings.

• Solution #2:

  1. First remove all ppa repositories in Update Manager -> Settings -> Other Software;

  2. sudo mv /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.bak

  3. sudo touch /etc/apt/sources.list

  4. sudo apt-get update

  5. sudo mv /etc/apt/sources.list.bak /etc/apt/sources.list

  6. sudo apt-get update

  7. Now add all your ppa repos back again.

  8. sudo apt-get update

  Done!

Solution 2

Your original error :

mv: cannot move `lists' to `lists.old/lists': Directory not empty

can be addressed by adding a timestamp to the directory rename as you can see below. Also, by adding a && in between each line will demarcate each command will allow you to cut and paste entire set of below commands from your notes back into a terminal

sudo apt-get clean && \
cd /var/lib/apt && \
sudo mv lists lists.old_`date '+%Y%m%d_%H%M%S'`   && \
sudo mkdir -p lists/partial && \
sudo apt-get clean && \
sudo apt-get update

another approach is to put it into a script which will exit on error ... vi myscript.sh

#!/bin/bash 
set -o errexit

sudo apt-get clean 
cd /var/lib/apt 
sudo mv lists lists.old_`date '+%Y%m%d_%H%M%S'`   
sudo mkdir -p lists/partial 
sudo apt-get clean 
sudo apt-get update

Comments

[jippie]

Long shot, but please check file system usage with df -h. Also check if lists.old already exists. In that case move it somewhere else.

[Kapil Anand]

Thanks for ur answer but im a amateur in ubuntu ...can u give me step wise intruction for above advice because im not allowed to move a folder/file in root folder location of "var/lib/apt"

[jippie]

Enter the following on the command line, then update your question with what you found: df -h and ls -al /var/lib/apt/

[Kapil Anand]

done ... i hv updated in above problem to show u the output..

[jippie]

You're currently booted from a (install) CD?

[Kapil Anand]

no i have installed ubuntu 11.10 in windows ...no booting from a CD

[jippie]

I find the /dev/loop0 for the root filesystem fishy. Can you give us the output to mount and losetup -a ?

[Kapil Anand]

i have mentioned the output ...problem still persists ...any help will be greatfull .kindly help

[Seyed Mohammad]

The commands I provided are slightly different from those you posted in the question. Carefully follow the commands I have provided. These should work, because I've used this method to solve GPG-errors many times and it has always worked for me.

[Kapil Anand]

i have updated my question by including ur instruction tht u just said...check the o/p whihch im getting .....@seyed

[Kapil Anand]

plz reply to my question @ seyed mohammad

[Seyed Mohammad]

Hmm, strange! Currently I don't have any clue why this didn't fix the issue. I will come back as soon as I find anything useful.

[Seyed Mohammad]

OK, I have edited my solution by providing another fix. If this one doesn't work too, I'm afraid I'm out of solutions for you! But I'm almost sure that one of these solutions should work for you.