Skipping acquire of configured file 'main/binary-i386/Packages' as repository 'xxx' doesn't support architecture 'i386'

Getting below error message while issuing :

sudo apt-get update

Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease [95.8 kB]
Ign:2 http://repo.mongodb.org/apt/debian wheezy/mongodb-org/3.2 InRelease                                                                                                            
Ign:3 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease                                                                                                                         
Hit:4 http://ppa.launchpad.net/canonical-x/vulkan/ubuntu xenial InRelease                                                                                                
Hit:5 http://repo.mongodb.org/apt/debian wheezy/mongodb-org/3.2 Release                                                                            
Hit:6 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease                                                  
Ign:7 http://dl.google.com/linux/talkplugin/deb stable InRelease                                                     
Hit:8 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease                                                   
Ign:9 http://linux.dropbox.com/ubuntu wily InRelease                                           
Hit:10 http://ppa.launchpad.net/numix/ppa/ubuntu xenial InRelease                              
Get:12 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable Release [782 B]      
Hit:13 http://dl.google.com/linux/talkplugin/deb stable Release                  
Ign:14 https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo ubuntu-wily InRelease          
Hit:15 https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo ubuntu-wily Release            
Get:16 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable Release.gpg [181 B]  
Hit:17 http://linux.dropbox.com/ubuntu wily Release                                  
Get:20 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable/main amd64 Packages [1,191 B]
Fetched 98.0 kB in 0s (118 kB/s)                                 
Reading package lists... Done
N: Skipping acquire of configured file 'main/binary-i386/Packages' as repository 'http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease' doesn't support architecture 'i386'

This cuts across various releases of ubuntu


Solution 1:

I tracked down offending repo (any for Google chrome in this dir)

cd /etc/apt/sources.list.d
grep chrome * | grep -v amd64

or more generally

grep -r google  /etc/apt | grep -v amd64 

Now do same as below for each repo file which matches above

cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome-unstable.list

### THIS FILE IS AUTOMATICALLY CONFIGURED ###
# You may comment out this entry, but any other modifications may be lost.
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main

SOLUTION : limit to just 64 bit by introducing the [arch=amd64]

deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main

ROOT CAUSE : Google dropped support for 32-bit Chrome on Linux triggering an error when updating apt in 64-bit systems (with multi arch enabled) ... details here : http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/03/fix-failed-to-fetch-google-chrome-apt-error-ubuntu

To confirm you are using 64 bit ubuntu with multiarch enabled issue

dpkg --print-foreign-architectures

if it says

i386

then you have added 32 bit support, this will list your native arch ... issue

dpkg --print-architecture 

if you are native 64 you will see this output so do SOLUTION shown above

amd64

Here is the command to remove multi architecture ( only if you have no 32 bit applications )

sudo dpkg --remove-architecture i386

Solution 2:

(this solution is for Ubuntu Bionic Beaver)
First, shame on Google for letting this issue linger so long!!

Here's how to fix it:
As already mentioned above, editing files in /etc/apt/sources.list.d seems to work... but only temporarily. The next day, the problem is back.

Here's why:

The file /etc/cron.daily/google-earth-pro runs daily and overwrites what you have in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-earth-pro.list.

To fix it once and for all, edit /etc/cron.daily/google-earth-pro.
Find this line:

REPOCONFIG="deb http://dl.google.com/linux/earth/deb/ stable main"

...and change it to:

REPOCONFIG="deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/earth/deb/ stable main"

Solution 3:

Changing

deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main

to

deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main

in each of

  • /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-musicmanager.list
  • /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-musicmanager.list.save
  • /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-musicmanager.list.distUpgrade

seems to fix the issue for Google Music Manager for Play Music too. Not sure if it will revert these changes at some point as the files are automatically configured.