Error sudo: add-apt-repository: command not found

Question

I’m running Ubuntu 14.04. When I run:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa

I get the following error:

sudo: add-apt-repository: command not found

I tried to run

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common

but it shows:

software-properties-common is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.

This is an old post, and maybe the OP no longer cares! However did you try sudo apt install software-properties-common --reinstall? — Swarnendu Biswas, May 17 '19 at 10:05

score 448 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 10 '19 at 21:59

448

For Ubuntu 14.04 or later you need to install the software-properties-common package:

sudo apt install software-properties-common

edited Jan 10 '19 at 21:59

Kulfy

answered Jun 22 '15 at 08:38

Daniel

That worked for me as well on Debian but only after running "apt-get update" could I install any new ppas. – Hagbard Jan 13 '21 at 15:29
Error: Unable to locate package software-properties-common – razor Jan 19 '26 at 13:54

score 48 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 10 '19 at 22:00

48

If you are using an older release of Ubuntu, i.e. before 12.10, it is necessary to install the package python-software-properties.

sudo apt install python-software-properties

edited Jan 10 '19 at 22:00

Kulfy

answered Mar 06 '15 at 12:25

Rohith Madhavan

I had this issue on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. This fixed it, but I had to also reboot the server after installing. – Erik Kalkoken Aug 15 '19 at 10:45
This solved it for me on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. software-properties-common was already installed. – kap Oct 11 '19 at 11:55
1

This solved it for me on Ubuntu 12.04.5 LTS, as software-properties-common was already installed. – Rocky Raccoon Aug 28 '20 at 00:18

Mostafa Wael · Answer 3 · 2022-02-06T12:27:04.180

2

Run sudo apt-get update

Then sudo apt install software-properties-common -y

Now, you can use sudo add-apt-repository

edited Feb 06 '22 at 12:27

answered Feb 06 '22 at 11:58

Mostafa Wael

This is just a dup of the other answer - https://askubuntu.com/a/639431/17531 – slm Jun 28 '25 at 16:30
Runing sudo apt install software-properties-common -y right away didn't work for me, that's why I mentioned running sudo apt-get update first. – Mostafa Wael Jul 03 '25 at 03:36
If you are talking about dups, then https://askubuntu.com/a/593437/1176062 is an obvious dup, not this answer – Mostafa Wael Jul 03 '25 at 03:37
Error: Unable to locate package software-properties-common – razor Jan 19 '26 at 13:55

3 Answers3