This is a guide on enabling the old-releases repos for the Ubuntu project. When Ubuntu marks a release EOL, the mainline repos are moved to an alternate location where they are preserved for historical purposes. It should be noted that when a system reaches EOL, the repos for it are no longer maintained.
It goes without saying that enabling the old-releases repos for EOL systems should only be used as a last resort. Continuing to run a system that has reached the end of life status is dangerous as it no longer receives security patches and bug fixes. There are also no promises that things will continue to work.
Mitigating security and reliability issues can be resolved all together by updating the system to a supported version of the operating system. If there is a compelling reason to enable the old-releases repos so packages can be installed, then proceed below.
Ubuntu 10.04 EOL Repos
Ubuntu 10.04 LTS went EOL on 4/2015. The procedure for setting up the system to use the old-releases repos are below.
First, create a backup of the /etc/apt/sources.list by:
[root@web01 ~]# cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.bak
Now update /etc/apt/sources.list to point to the old-releases repos accordingly. Keep in mind that there may be repos specified in here for Nginx, Varnish, Docker, etc. So be sure to only update the items needed by Ubuntu. The end result should look something like this:
[root@web01 ~]# vim /etc/apt/sources.list # See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to # newer versions of the distribution. deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid main restricted deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid main restricted ## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the ## distribution. deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates main restricted deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates main restricted ## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu ## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any ## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team. deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid universe deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid universe deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates universe deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates universe ## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu ## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to ## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in ## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu ## security team. deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid multiverse deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid multiverse deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates multiverse deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates multiverse ## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'backports' ## repository. ## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as ## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes ## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features. ## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review ## or updates from the Ubuntu security team. # deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-backports main restricted universe multiverse # deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-backports main restricted universe multiverse ## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's ## 'partner' repository. ## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the ## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users. # deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid partner # deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid partner deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-security main restricted deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-security main restricted deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-security universe deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-security universe deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-security multiverse deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-security multiverse
Now refresh the package index from their sources by running:
[root@web01 ~]# apt-get update
Address any 404’s accordingly as that means the URL may be incorrect or may not longer exist.
Ubuntu 12.04 EOL Repos
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is going EOL on 4/2017. The procedure for setting up the system to use the old-releases repos are below.
First, create a backup of the /etc/apt/sources.list by:
[root@web01 ~]# cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.bak
Now update /etc/apt/sources.list to point to the old-releases repos accordingly. Keep in mind that there may be repos specified in here for Nginx, Varnish, Docker, etc. So be sure to only update the items needed by Ubuntu. The end result should look something like this:
[root@web01 ~]# vim /etc/apt/sources.list # See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to # newer versions of the distribution. deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main restricted deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main restricted ## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the ## distribution. deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates main restricted deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates main restricted ## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu ## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any ## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team. deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise universe deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise universe deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates universe deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates universe ## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu ## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to ## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in ## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu ## security team. deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise multiverse deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise multiverse deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates multiverse deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates multiverse ## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as ## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes ## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features. ## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review ## or updates from the Ubuntu security team. deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-backports main restricted universe multiverse deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-backports main restricted universe multiverse deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security main restricted deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security main restricted deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security universe deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security universe deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security multiverse deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security multiverse ## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's ## 'partner' repository. ## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the ## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users. # deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise partner # deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise partner ## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Ubuntu's ## 'extras' repository. ## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by third-party ## developers who want to ship their latest software. # deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise main # deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise main
Now refresh the package index from their sources by running:
[root@web01 ~]# apt-get update
Address any 404’s accordingly as that means the URL may be incorrect or may not longer exist.