Fix add-apt-repository: command not found error

The error is simple. The package add-apt-repository is not installed on your system.

But if you try to use sudo apt-get install add-apt-repository, it won’t work.

It’s because the add-apt-repository command is part of package software-properties-common and you need to install this package in order to install add-apt-repository.

So open a terminal and use this command:

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common

The command’s output will be something like this:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  account-plugin-tools accountsservice-ubuntu-schemas dbus-property-service
  fonts-droid-fallback fonts-noto-mono gcc-5-base:i386 gnome-menus
  libasound2:i386 libasyncns0:i386 libatk1.0-0:i386 libavahi-common-data:i386
  libavahi-common3:i386 libboost-log1.58.0 libboost-program-options1.58.0
  libboost-regex1.58.0 libboost-thread1.58.0 libbsd0:i386 libcairo2:i386
  libconnectivity-qt1 libcontent-hub0 libdatrie1:i386 libdbus-cpp5
  libdrm-amdgpu1:i386 libdrm-intel1:i386 libdrm-nouveau2:i386
  libdrm-radeon1:i386 libdrm2:i386 libedit2:i386 libelf1:i386 libexpat1:i386
  libffi6:i386 libflac8:i386 libfontconfig1:i386 libfreetype6:i386
  libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0:i386 libgeonames0 libgflags2v5 libgif7:i386
  libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 libglapi-mesa:i386
  libglib2.0-0:i386 libgmp10:i386 libgnutls30:i386 libgoogle-glog0v5
  libgraphite2-3:i386 libgsettings-qt1 libgssapi-krb5-2:i386
  libharfbuzz0b:i386 libhogweed4:i386 libhud2 libhybris libhybris-utils
  libidn11:i386 libjbig0:i386 libjpeg-turbo8:i386 libjpeg8:i386
  libjson-c2:i386 libk5crypto3:i386 libkeyutils1:i386 libkrb5-3:i386
  libkrb5support0:i386 liblcms2-2:i386 liblibertine1 libllvm6.0:i386
  liblttng-ust-ctl2 liblttng-ust0 libmedia1 libnettle6:i386 libnspr4:i386
  libnss3:i386 libogg0:i386 libonline-accounts-client1 libonline-accounts-qt1
  liboxideqt-qmlplugin liboxideqtcore0 liboxideqtquick0 libp11-kit0:i386
  libpango-1.0-0:i386 libpangocairo-1.0-0:i386 libpangoft2-1.0-0:i386
  libpciaccess0:i386 libpcsclite1:i386 libpixman-1-0:i386 libpkcs11-helper1
  libpng12-0:i386 libprocess-cpp3 libpython-all-dev libqmenumodel0
  libqt5feedback5 libqt5multimediaquick-p5 libqt5organizer5 libqt5positioning5
  libqt5quicktest5 libqt5systeminfo5 libqt5test5 libqt5xmlpatterns5
  libsensors4:i386 libsndfile1:i386 libsqlite3-0:i386 libstdc++6:i386
  libsystemsettings1 libtasn1-6:i386 libthai0:i386 libtiff5:i386
  libtimezonemap-data libtimezonemap1 libtrust-store2 libtxc-dxtn-s2tc0:i386
  libubuntu-app-launch2 libubuntu-download-manager-client1
  libubuntu-download-manager-common1 libubuntugestures5 libubuntutoolkit5
  libudm-common1 libudm-priv-common1 libunity-action-qt1 libunwind8 liburcu4
  libvorbis0a:i386 libvorbisenc2:i386 libwrap0:i386 libx11-6:i386
  libx11-xcb1:i386 libxau6:i386 libxcb-dri2-0:i386 libxcb-dri3-0:i386
  libxcb-glx0:i386 libxcb-present0:i386 libxcb-render0:i386 libxcb-shm0:i386
  libxcb-sync1:i386 libxcb1:i386 libxcomposite1:i386 libxcursor1:i386
  libxdamage1:i386 libxdmcp6:i386 libxext6:i386 libxfixes3:i386 libxi6:i386
  libxinerama1:i386 libxrandr2:i386 libxrender1:i386 libxshmfence1:i386
  libxtst6:i386 libxxf86vm1:i386 network-manager-openvpn openvpn
  packagekit-backend-aptcc packagekit-tools python-all python-all-dev
  python-pip-whl python-wheel python3-gnupg python3-packagekit python3-xkit
  qmenumodel-qml qml-module-qt-labs-folderlistmodel qml-module-qtfeedback
  qml-module-qtgraphicaleffects qml-module-qtmultimedia
  qml-module-qtsysteminfo qml-module-qttest qml-module-ubuntu-components
  qml-module-ubuntu-connectivity qml-module-ubuntu-layouts
  qml-module-ubuntu-onlineaccounts2 qml-module-ubuntu-performancemetrics
  qml-module-ubuntu-test qtdeclarative5-gsettings1.0
  qtdeclarative5-qtquick2-plugin qtdeclarative5-ubuntu-content1
  qtdeclarative5-ubuntu-settings-components
  qtdeclarative5-ubuntu-ui-toolkit-plugin qtdeclarative5-unity-action-plugin
  signon-ui-service sqlite3 suru-icon-theme system-image-common
  system-image-dbus ubuntu-download-manager ubuntu-drivers-common
  ubuntu-keyboard-data ubuntu-mobile-icons ubuntu-ui-toolkit-theme
  ubuntuone-client-data ubuntuone-credentials-common urfkill
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following additional packages will be installed:
  python3-software-properties
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  python3-software-properties software-properties-common
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 58 not upgraded.
Need to get 29,7 kB of archives.
After this operation, 311 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/main amd64 python3-software-properties all 0.96.20.10 [20,2 kB]
Get:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/main amd64 software-properties-common all 0.96.20.10 [9.504 B]
Fetched 29,7 kB in 0s (67,2 kB/s)                     
Selecting previously unselected package python3-software-properties.
(Reading database ... 337446 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../python3-software-properties_0.96.20.10_all.deb ...
Unpacking python3-software-properties (0.96.20.10) ...
Selecting previously unselected package software-properties-common.
Preparing to unpack .../software-properties-common_0.96.20.10_all.deb ...
Unpacking software-properties-common (0.96.20.10) ...
Processing triggers for dbus (1.10.6-1ubuntu3.6) ...

Once you’ve installed software-properties-common, you should update the system using this command:

sudo apt-get update

You can now comfortably use add-apt-repository or apt-add-repository commands to add PPAs.

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair