Sometimes while trying to update the package lists on your Ubuntu system, you might come accross "The repository does not have a release file" error at the tail end of the terminal output.

This could be frustrating and it basically prevents you from not only updating the package index but also installing new software packages. The error is closely related to the "The repository is no longer signed" error.

Here at Ibmi Media, as part of our Server Management Services, we regularly help our Customers to perform related Linux system repository queries.

In this context, we shall look into the main causes of this error and methods to resolve it.

Main cause of the "The repository does not have a release file" Error in Ubuntu

The error is caused by third-party PPAs which are no longer supported by your current release or version of Ubuntu. The repository may also have been deprecated and, therefore, you need to find a new repository for that software or remove the troublesome repository entirely.

How to fix the "The repository does not have a release file" Error in Ubuntu ?

The immediate fix to this dilemma is to purge the troublesome PPAs.

To address this PPA problem, open the 'Software & Updates' section.

Then select the 'Other Software' tab. This populates a list of all the third-party PPAs that exist on your purged to resolve the error.

To resolve this issue, uncheck or deselect the PPAs. Be notified that you will be prompted for authentication.

Once you have deselected the PPAs, click the 'Close' button and then 'Reload' on the pop-up.

Your system will refresh the cache which will only take a few minutes.

Once done, you should be able to update the packages and even upgrade the packages and repositories without an issue.

[Need help in fixing Ubuntu Software packages errors ? We can help you. ]