'apt-add-repository' command not found Debian / Ubuntu [Solution]

Written by Pranshu Bajpai | Join me on Google+ | LinkedIn

You might have encountered certain non-standard packages that have no installation candidates in your current repositories. In such cases, you can try to add a new repository. However, you might have encountered an error that says: 'apt-add repository' command not found. The system currently has no path to the binary 'apt-add-repository' which is why it says it cannot find that command.

Here's the fix

Execute the following commands in your terminal:

$wget http://blog.anantshri.info/content/uploads/2010/09/add-apt-repository.sh.txt

(thanks to the author this script!)

$mv add-apt-repository.sh.txt /usr/sbin/add-apt-repository

$chmod o+x /usr/sbin/add-apt-repository

$chown root:root /usr/sbin/add-apt-repository

If you are not using a 'root' account, then add a 'sudo' infront of each of these commands before executing them.

Now, trying adding the new repository again. For example:

$add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/sublime-text-2

$apt-get update

(the repository you are trying to add might be different in your case)


You should now be able to add new repositories to your system and install non-standard packages.

Please let me know in the comments below if you come across any issues.