Linux Mint: Find Ubuntu Version it is Based On

The main edition of the Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu which itself is based on Debian.

If you try to add an Ubuntu APT repository in the Linux Mint with the command, like sudo apt-add-repository "deb [arch=amd64] <URL> $(lsb_release -cs) main", you may get this error:

E: The repository ‘<URL> <codeName> Release’ does not have a Release file. N: Updating from such a repository can’t be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default. N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.

This is because the $(lsb_release -cs) command returns not the codename of the Ubuntu release but the codename of the Linux Mint.

To solve this error in the most cases it should be enough to replace the $(lsb_release -cs) with the Ubuntu version the Linux Mint distribution is based on.

In this note i will show how to find the Ubuntu version the Linux Mint is based on.

Cool Tip: How to check what the version of Ubuntu do I have! Read more →

Ubuntu Version the Linux Mint is Based On

To get the Linux Mint version:

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Linuxmint
Description:	Linux Mint 20.2
Release:	20.2
Codename:	uma

To get the Ubuntu version the Linux Mint distribution is based on:

$ cat /etc/upstream-release/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=20.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=focal
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu Focal Fossa"