[apt repo] Invalid 'Date' entry in Release file w/ apt-1.1

[himdel]

With the new release of apt-1.1, the apt repositories at http://download.rethinkdb.com/apt/ are failing to update..

$ apt update
...
W: Failed to fetch http://download.rethinkdb.com/apt/dists/stretch/Release  Invalid 'Date' entry in Release file /var/lib/apt/lists/partial/download.rethinkdb.com_apt_dists_stretch_Release
E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

The invalid 'Date' entry specifically means no Date entry at all actually :).

This repo is probably not the right place for this issue, sorry, but there was no other; all other debian repo Release files do contain a Date entry, so assuming not an apt bug..

[danielmewes]

Thanks for reporting this, this is definitely the right place for the issue.

@AtnNn could you look into this please?

[AtnNn]

We use freight to manage the apt repo. It does not seem to know about the Date field: https://github.com/rcrowley/freight/blob/master/lib/freight/apt.sh#L155-L160

It shouldn't be too hard to add.

[AtnNn]

This patch seems to fix the issue AtnNn/freight@6da26b6

[mmoll]

@AtnNn could you open a PR to the the freight repo? I'm also running into this.

[AtnNn]

@mmoll rcrowley/freight#65

[mmoll]

thanks 🙇

[DenJohX]

So, until freight merges the patch and you install the updated version, there is no way to install rethink from the repos.

Could you apply the patch to your freight so we can install it?

[danielmewes]

@DenJohX We will build the repo with the fix for the next update (RethinkDB 2.2.2), independently of whether the patch gets merged upstream or not.

My understanding is that this only applies if you're running an unstable distribution or manually install the new apt version. Is that correct? Or does this affect any supported distributions?
We could rebuild the repositories before the next release if necessary.

In the meantime you can of course work around this by downloading the package directly from https://download.rethinkdb.com/apt/pool/ .

[DenJohX]

@danielmewes I'm on Debian testing, which is not a uncommon situation if you use your computer for developing.

But, yes, testing qualifies as an unstable distribution.

I will try to install the packages manually, though.

[himdel]

Agreed, when I reported it, apt-1.1 was in experimental so needed to be manually installed. It has since moved to sid (unstable) and stretch (testing). While stretch is not a release, I actually don't know anyone using Debian for daily work (as opposed to servers) and not using testing..

So.. 2.2.2 is probably fine, assuming it goes out after new years and not after easter.

[danielmewes]

Yeah, 2.2.2 should be out shortly (this week probably).

[DenJohX]

As a side note, currently the package doesn't work in Debian testing due to an unsatisfied dependency on libprotobuf9 which got renamed to libprotobuf9v5.

IMHO there should be support for Debian testing as it is more suited for developing/daily-use.

[AtnNn]

@DenJohX There are packages for stretch available on http://download.rehtinkdb.com/apt built against libprotobuf8v5.

[DenJohX]

@AtnNn yo are right!, sorry I didnt noticed the stretch pool.

[danielmewes]

@DenJohX @himdel Would you mind retrying? This should be fixed now.

[himdel]

@danielmewes Looks good, thanks!

[karmux]

This started to happen again.

# apt-get update
Hit:1 http://security.debian.org stretch/updates InRelease
Ign:2 http://download.rethinkdb.com/apt stretch InRelease
Hit:3 http://download.rethinkdb.com/apt stretch Release 
Get:4 http://download.rethinkdb.com/apt stretch Release.gpg [490 B]
Hit:5 http://ftp.acc.umu.se/debian stretch InRelease
Hit:6 http://ftp.vectranet.pl/debian stretch-updates InRelease
Fetched 490 B in 1s (265 B/s)                      
Reading package lists... Done
W: Invalid 'Date' entry in Release file /var/lib/apt/lists/download.rethinkdb.com_apt_dists_stretch_Release
W: The repository 'http://download.rethinkdb.com/apt stretch Release' provides only weak security information.
N: Data from such a repository can't be authenticated and is therefore potentially dangerous to use.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.

Using https://www.rethinkdb.com/docs/install/debian/

[danielmewes]

Thanks for the report @karmux .

This might be a different problem from the original. Originally the Date entry was missing, but it's definitely there now: http://download.rethinkdb.com/apt/dists/stretch/Release

I also wonder why it's complaining about the weak security...

Will see if I can reproduce.

[danielmewes]

I can reproduce this after updating the version of apt in Debian Stretch. It works fine with the version that originally came with Stretch. We'll look into it.

[danielmewes]

Looks like the data is supposed to be in UTC ( https://wiki.debian.org/RepositoryFormat#Date.2CValid-Until ), while our repositories specify it in PDT local time. Will need to try if that's actually the issue...

[danielmewes]

Ok should be fixed now. @karmux Can you check again please?

[karmux]

@danielmewes these warnings are gone now. Thanks!