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So, I have a brand new Debian install. My sources.list looks like this:

deb http://http.debian.net/debian wheezy main contrib nonfree
deb-src http://http.debian.net/debian wheezy main contrib nonfree

deb http://http.debian.net/debian wheezy-updates main contrib nonfree
deb-src http://http.debian.net/debian wheezy-updates main contrib nonfree

deb http://security.debian.org/ wheezy/updates main contrib nonfree
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ wheezy/updates main contrib nonfree

However, I can't so much as install vim - it tells me no installation candidate found!

I started by trying to install the nvidia drivers as provided here. However, I keep getting errors in both aptitude and apt-get, that a dependency package cannot be installed, and when I try to do it manually - no installation candidate.. I fixed one of these errors by downloading packages manually as a proof of concept.

And yes, I ran apt-get update. Could someone be so kind as to tell me how to fix my package manager?

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  • Can you please tell me the exact command you are running to try to install vim? Also what happens after you sudo apt-get update what is the general output? Have you attempted sudo apt-get upgrade what is the output of that? Also is the above the exact copy and paste from your sources.list file? Not from a website or anything? Also does it tell you what dependency is missing?
    – Dylan
    Mar 12, 2015 at 5:13
  • Yes, it's an exact copy. I did apt-get update several times, although I may have neglected to try apt-get upgrade after some of the attempts of messing with it. Exact command: apt-get install vim. To boot, I think I'd have to look up the command output for update... but it didn't warn or anything.
    – user1833028
    Mar 12, 2015 at 5:16
  • Try something for me please, go ahead and do sudo apt-get upgrade so instead of just finding out about the updates available we actually install them. Then after that go ahead and reboot and try in install vim again. If it fails copy paste the results, I am curious if it has the missing dependency listed in the error.
    – Dylan
    Mar 12, 2015 at 5:20
  • I have been searching, and while I would rather solve the exact nature of your issue as it may be more deep seeded than just vim an alternative may be to try sudo apt-get install vim-runtime but keep in mind this is just a band-aide.
    – Dylan
    Mar 12, 2015 at 5:41
  • What does apt-get -f install say? What about apt-cache policy vim? Do you have a file /etc/apt/preferences or files in the directory /etc/apt/preferences.d and if so what do they contain?
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Mar 12, 2015 at 21:57

2 Answers 2

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Your sources.list is wrong. Probably because of debian.net

Did you try with debian.org?

https://wiki.debian.org/SourcesList is the most appropriate place to find repositories as well as to learn how to configure your sources.list

The current stable is Stretch but I'm sure you're gonna find yours. There are repos for almost all releases (Here)

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Try sudo apt update as you might have not refreshed it for a while!

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  • The question says “I ran apt-get update”.  I believe it’s safe to assume that the OP used sudo.  Are you suggesting that apt might work when apt-get didn’t?  Why? … … … … … … … Please do not respond in comments; edit your answer to make it clearer and more complete.
    – G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica'
    May 13, 2022 at 18:47

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