Why I can't install jq on Ubuntu 20.04

 A friend asked me why they were unable to install jq onto their Ubuntu 20.04 Linux box - which seems like a perfectly reasonable to do / ask.

 

So I tried ...

 

And failed ...

 

lsb_release -a

 

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:    Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS
Release:    20.04
Codename:    focal

uname -a

Linux foobar.snafu.com 5.4.0-156-generic #173-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jul 11 07:25:22 UTC 2023 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y

 

apt-get install -y jq

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package jq

Having read the jq download page, which says, in part: -

 

jq is in the official Debian and Ubuntu repositories. Install using sudo apt-get install jq.

I was confused, to say the least ....

And then I remembered to check the Aptitude Package Manager's sources.list file : -

cat /etc/apt/sources.list

# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-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-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal universe
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-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-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal multiverse
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-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://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-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://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu focal partner
# deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu focal partner

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security main
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security main restricted
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security universe
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security multiverse

or, more specifically, looking for the Ubuntu Universe repository : -

cat /etc/apt/sources.list|grep -i universe

## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal universe
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates universe
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security universe

which showed that universe wasn't enabled ...

So I backed up the existing /etc/apt/source.list file: -

cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.ORIG

 

and then added the universe repo: -

 

cat <<EOF >> /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security universe
EOF

and tried again: -

apt-get update && apt-get install -y jq

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  libjq1 libonig5
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  jq libjq1 libonig5
0 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 313 kB of archives.
After this operation, 1,062 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/universe amd64 libonig5 amd64 6.9.4-1 [142 kB]
Get:2 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/universe amd64 libjq1 amd64 1.6-1ubuntu0.20.04.1 [121 kB]
Get:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/universe amd64 jq amd64 1.6-1ubuntu0.20.04.1 [50.2 kB]
Fetched 313 kB in 1s (440 kB/s)
Selecting previously unselected package libonig5:amd64.
(Reading database ... 108600 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libonig5_6.9.4-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libonig5:amd64 (6.9.4-1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libjq1:amd64.
Preparing to unpack .../libjq1_1.6-1ubuntu0.20.04.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libjq1:amd64 (1.6-1ubuntu0.20.04.1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package jq.
Preparing to unpack .../jq_1.6-1ubuntu0.20.04.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking jq (1.6-1ubuntu0.20.04.1) ...
Setting up libonig5:amd64 (6.9.4-1) ...
Setting up libjq1:amd64 (1.6-1ubuntu0.20.04.1) ...
Setting up jq (1.6-1ubuntu0.20.04.1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.9.1-1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.31-0ubuntu9.12) ...

and now things are happy: -

jq --version

jq-1.6

cat ~/family.json | jq

{
  "friends": [
    {
      "givenName": "Dave",
      "familyName": "Hay"
    },
    {
      "givenName": "Homer",
      "familyName": "Simpson"
    },
    {
      "givenName": "Marge",
      "familyName": "Simpson"
    },
    {
      "givenName": "Lisa",
      "familyName": "Simpson"
    },
    {
      "givenName": "Bart",
      "familyName": "Simpson"
    }
  ]
}