How to check / restore Kali Linux Rolling Repository

It is highly recommended to keep Kali Linux Repository in original state. You and your Kali can avoid a lot of problems if you will not populate the system’s sources.list file with unofficial repositories.

Indeed, Kali needs only one line in the /etc/apt/sources.list file:

deb https://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main non-free contrib

You can open the file manually

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Likely you'll see the default strings:

deb https://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main non-free contrib
# deb-src https://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main non-free contrib

Also you can use the complex command to test Kali repository:

if cat /etc/apt/sources.list | grep -E "deb https://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free" || cat /etc/apt/sources.list | grep -E "deb https://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main non-free contrib"; then echo -e "\n\n\033[0;32mRepository is ok"; else echo -e "\n\n\033[0;31mRepository is not alright"; fi

If Kali Linux Repository have no necessary string, you’ll see message ‘Repository is not alright’.

If you have problems, then start by creating a backup:

sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.bac

The following command will restore Kali Linux repository to original state (note that ALL third-party repositories will be removed and only the official source of the packages will be written):

echo 'deb https://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list

Once you change the system’s sources.list file you should update information about available packages in the repositories:

sudo apt update

Continue reading:

• Kali sources.list Repositories