apt update fails on Armbian 23 (focal)

[nerblock]

Armbian 23 fails to update because focal was removed from the apt repo ¹:

Welcome to Armbian 23.02.2 Focal with Linux 5.15.93-sunxi

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS
Release:        20.04
Codename:       focal

$ sudo apt update
Hit:1 http://ports.ubuntu.com focal InRelease
Hit:2 http://ports.ubuntu.com focal-security InRelease
Get:3 http://ports.ubuntu.com focal-updates InRelease [114 kB]
Hit:4 https://apt.grafana.com stable InRelease
Hit:5 http://ports.ubuntu.com focal-backports InRelease
Ign:6 http://fi.mirror.armbian.de/apt focal InRelease
Err:7 http://fi.mirror.armbian.de/apt focal Release
  404  Not Found [IP: 2a01:4f9:3b:4943::2 80]
Reading package lists... Done
E: The repository 'http://apt.armbian.com focal Release' no longer has a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.

Focal is getting quite old but it will be EOL only in April 2025 ² and many of us still use it everyday. Please consider adding it back to the apt repo at least until it reaches EOL.

Footnotes

1. https://apt.armbian.com/dists/ ↩

2. https://ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle ↩

[MS1987]

Also found it on the buster version:

# apt-get update
Hit:1 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster InRelease
Hit:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates InRelease
Get:3 http://security.debian.org buster/updates InRelease [34.8 kB]
Get:4 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports InRelease [51.4 kB]
Ign:5 http://fi.mirror.armbian.de/apt buster InRelease
Err:6 http://fi.mirror.armbian.de/apt buster Release
  404  Not Found [IP: 65.21.120.247 80]
Get:7 http://security.debian.org buster/updates/main arm64 Packages [753 kB]
Get:8 http://security.debian.org buster/updates/main armhf Packages [757 kB]
Get:9 http://security.debian.org buster/updates/non-free arm64 Packages [6,166 B]
Get:10 http://security.debian.org buster/updates/non-free armhf Packages [11.3 kB]
Get:11 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main arm64 Packages.diff/Index [27.8 kB]
Get:12 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main armhf Packages.diff/Index [27.8 kB]
Get:13 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main arm64 Contents (deb).diff/Index [27.9 kB]
Get:14 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main armhf Contents (deb).diff/Index [27.9 kB]
Get:15 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main arm64 Packages 2023-08-30-1418.39.pdiff [754 B]
Get:16 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main arm64 Packages 2023-10-02-2009.11.pdiff [858 B]
Get:17 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main arm64 Packages 2023-11-02-0803.41.pdiff [818 B]
Get:18 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main arm64 Packages 2023-12-08-0205.50.pdiff [836 B]
Get:19 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main arm64 Packages 2024-01-17-1406.13.pdiff [1,968 B]
Get:20 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main arm64 Packages 2024-02-11-1408.12.pdiff [1,250 B]
Get:20 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main arm64 Packages 2024-02-11-1408.12.pdiff [1,250 B]
Get:21 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main armhf Packages 2023-08-30-1418.39.pdiff [756 B]
Get:22 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main armhf Packages 2023-10-02-2009.11.pdiff [858 B]
Get:23 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main armhf Packages 2023-11-02-0803.41.pdiff [818 B]
Get:24 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main armhf Packages 2023-12-08-0205.50.pdiff [836 B]
Get:25 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main armhf Packages 2024-01-17-1406.13.pdiff [1,942 B]
Get:26 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main armhf Packages 2024-02-11-1408.12.pdiff [1,250 B]
Get:26 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main armhf Packages 2024-02-11-1408.12.pdiff [1,250 B]
Get:27 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main arm64 Contents (deb) 2024-01-17-1406.13.pdiff [3,433 B]
Get:28 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main arm64 Contents (deb) 2024-02-11-1408.12.pdiff [102 B]
Get:28 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main arm64 Contents (deb) 2024-02-11-1408.12.pdiff [102 B]
Get:29 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main armhf Contents (deb) 2024-01-17-1406.13.pdiff [3,437 B]
Get:30 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main armhf Contents (deb) 2024-02-11-1408.12.pdiff [102 B]
Get:30 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main armhf Contents (deb) 2024-02-11-1408.12.pdiff [102 B]
Reading package lists... Done
E: The repository 'http://apt.armbian.com buster Release' no longer has a Release file. 
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.  
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.

[obynio]

Same here, focal was removed from all apt armbian mirrors

$ sudo apt update
Hit:1 http://ports.ubuntu.com focal InRelease
Hit:2 http://ports.ubuntu.com focal-security InRelease
Hit:3 http://ports.ubuntu.com focal-updates InRelease
Ign:4 http://fi.mirror.armbian.de/apt focal InRelease
Hit:5 http://ports.ubuntu.com focal-backports InRelease
Err:6 http://fi.mirror.armbian.de/apt focal Release
  404  Not Found [IP: 2a01:4f9:3b:4943::2 80]
Reading package lists... Done
E: The repository 'http://apt.armbian.com focal Release' no longer has a Release file.

[nerblock]

@igorpecovnik can you take a look at this please?

[demaniak]

Yeah , just hit the issue with buster...

Found this post on the forum: https://forum.armbian.com/topic/35921-banana-pi-apt-update-no-longer-works/#comment-184574

Would have been nice if things could maybe be moved out to archive for a bit before yanking :(

[nerblock]

Agreed, pretty bad move to simply disable support for live distros at an arbitrary date without even notifying your users. Anyway I guess armbian is just a small project that a couple volunteers maintain in their free time, so this is all we can expect.

[demaniak]

@nerblock ,
Well, FWIW, I'm running an upgrade to bullseye (from stretch) now (oDroid C2).
So far nothing broke, but still have to complete the full-upgrade and then survive a reboot...

At least that guy on the forum reported it went ok for him, so 🤞

UPDATE to add:
For anybody else coming across this when trying to update from stretch (and then having to leapfrog to bullseye) - it went ok, but I did hit one snag with Docker and nftables.

Essentially had to follow the advice from the link and switch back to iptables:

sudo update-alternatives --set iptables /usr/sbin/iptables-legacy
sudo update-alternatives --set ip6tables /usr/sbin/ip6tables-legacy