How do I install the dpkg-dev package? Requires Ubuntu ISO

Please assist me in installing dpkg-dev. It requires me to insert "ubuntu 12.04.1 precise pangolin i386". I did download and burn the image onto a disk. Repeated the process..i.e.

1. type sudo apt-get install dpkg-dev
2. inserted the above mention disc as required
3. pressed 'enter' as required, but that's where nothing happens and my problem begun..

Any advice would be appreciated or please send me the exact image of the above mentioned ubuntu image/iso file.

1 Answer

Use the online repositories instead of CD-ROMs

It's recommended to install packages from the official repositories available using the internet, rather than installing from (outdated) CD images.

1. Open /etc/apt/sources.list with your favourite text editor, e.g.

   sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list # or vim / nano / joe - whatever you like

2. Comment out the lines starting with deb cdrom:. This means, prepending them with a # (hash). For example:

   deb cdrom:[Kubuntu 12.04 LTS _Precise Pangolin_ - Release amd64 (20120424)]/ dists/precise/main/binary-i386/
   deb cdrom:[Kubuntu 12.04 LTS _Precise Pangolin_ - Release amd64 (20120424)]/ dists/precise/restricted/binary-i386/

   Becomes

   # deb cdrom:[Kubuntu 12.04 LTS _Precise Pangolin_ - Release amd64 (20120424)]/ dists/precise/main/binary-i386/
   # deb cdrom:[Kubuntu 12.04 LTS _Precise Pangolin_ - Release amd64 (20120424)]/ dists/precise/restricted/binary-i386/

3. Check whether regular deb or deb ftp://... are present in the file elsewhere. You should at least have some lines like

   deb precise main restricted
   deb precise-updates main restricted
   deb precise-security main restricted

4. Update the sources.

   sudo apt-get update

5. Install the package:

   sudo apt-get install dpkg-dev

6. Install updates (you probably have a lot outstanding now that you haven't accessed the repostories online).

   sudo apt-get dist-upgrade # no, this won't upgrade to a new release

In case you still have issues locating the package, include the output of

apt-cache policy dpkg-dev

and

grep -vrE "(^#|^$)" /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/

in your question.