continue using 16.04 after EOL - change of repository in sources.list

**dieter-erich** · May 30th, 2022

I'd like to continue using my old 32 bit laptop with ubuntu-mate 16.04 and install corresponding versions of programs e.g. like gnuplot-x11. According to https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EOLUpgrades I only need to change the sources.list accordingly. However, when running an update I get a list of error messages indicating that the repositories were not found (see below). My sources.list look like in the above link with "CODENAME" replaced with "xenial".
Thanks for hints as to what might be wrong!

Ign:4 http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease
Ign:5 http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease
OK:6 http://ppa.launchpad.net/gerardpuig/ppa/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Ign:7 http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports InRelease
Fehl:8 http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial Release
404 Not Found [IP: 185.125.190.40 80]
Fehl:9 http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates Release
404 Not Found [IP: 185.125.190.40 80]
Fehl:10 http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security Release
404 Not Found [IP: 185.125.190.40 80]
Fehl:11 http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports Release
404 Not Found [IP: 185.125.190.40 80]
Holen:12 https://esm.ubuntu.com/infra/ubuntu xenial-infra-security InRelease [7.518 B]
Holen:13 https://esm.ubuntu.com/infra/ubuntu xenial-infra-updates InRelease [7.475 B]
Holen:14 https://esm.ubuntu.com/infra/ubuntu xenial-infra-security/main i386 Packages [216 kB]
Paketlisten werden gelesen... Fertig
E: Das Depot Â»http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial ReleaseÂ« enthÃ¤lt keine Release-Datei.

**guiverc** · May 30th, 2022

I'd suggest using Ubuntu-MATE 18.04 LTS (or another flavor) as then you'll get partial support instead of minimal support.

Your issue is that because 16.04 is in ESM, it's repositories are not yet moved to old-releases but still in the archive.ubuntu.com. ie. you need to reverse your change & return `old-release` to `archive`.

Don't forget the changes with an ESM release, ie.

- https://fridge.ubuntu.com/2021/03/13...april-30-2021/
- https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SecurityTeam/ESM/16.04

ie. many of the packages that were supported via deb packages changed to snap only during the ESM period, such as firefox, thunderbird, libreoffice...

Ubuntu-MATE 18.04 LTS supports i386, and isn't yet in ESM, thus deb packages are still supported for many key desktop applications.

FYI: Don't forget you can use `ubuntu-support-status` to confirm which packages are still supported thus get security fixes/updates etc. Only parts of your system are supported, particularly if you didn't convert from deb package to snap package as per documentation.