Updating packages stalls

[David Clayton]

Using 12.04 RC installed in Melbourne Australia locale, installing and subsequently updating packages stalls significantly delaying installation process.

Adding this code to /etc/apt/apt.conf.d in file 80http fixes this problem:

Acquire::http::Pipeline-Depth "0";
Acquire::http::No-Cache "true";
Acquire::http::Max-Age "0";

Whether this is caused by misconfiguration of Repositories is basically irrelevant, I have experienced this issue for years now and I always seem to have to install this extra file to basically cure things.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: apt 0.8.16~exp12ubuntu7
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-22.35-generic 3.2.14
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-22-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.0-0ubuntu4
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue Apr 10 19:46:56 2012
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Beta amd64 (20120409)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_AU:en
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_AU.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: apt
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[bamyasi (iadzhubey)]

This affects me as well, started a few days ago. Extremely annoying, updates take forever to download (literally, days). Possibly caused by changes in my ISP configuration? It is a Verizon DSL broadband and I am on the East Coast US.

Anyway, the changes to APT configuration suggested by David did not help me.

What is wierd, when the apt downloads are in progress (either updating package indices or downloading actual packages) they occupy the whole connection bandwidth here, i.e., the downstream transfer rates from servers are in the 300-600KB/sec range (confirmed by iftop) which looks normal for my 5Mbit/s ADSL connection.

However, apt progress indicator only shows 10-30KB/sec download speed at best. It's as if 99.9% of the packets received are being discarded by apt. There is no errors in any of the logs, nor in dmesg output and ifconfig shows dropped packets / errors counts for the interface all stay at zero.

[Jarrett Boudreau (hexadecimal00110)]

I believe this is also affecting me.

Comcast south chicago land area.

Stable connection, router tests fine.

Tried installing Ubuntu server on my desktop, took 6 hours to install while downloading parts. eventually failed.

Tried on my laptop, thinking a hardware compatibility error. Took 9 hours to install, eventually worked, but apt-get takes forever to update. avg dl speed 13.2kbps - 24mb in 26min or so.

Now I have xbuntu 64bit 12.04 installed on my laptop, flash plugin via apt get stalled for 30min. eventually finished.

[bamyasi (iadzhubey)]

Looks like a Canonical servers misconfiguration, possibly hitting a bug in the apt load balancing algorithm. Currently, the solution is to configure Muon/apt to use a fixed mirror. Please see this thread for details:

http://www.kubuntuforums.net/showthread.php?58918-apt-get-downloads-extremely-slow

[D Fine (define2-0x)]

also affected -- twin cities minnesota, 2 different known good locations tested

[tom_major (tom-major)]

When using our local apt-mirror, there is no problem - this is going very fast. If using official de.archive.ubuntu.com mirrors, updating packages stalls, too.