Linux Mint Software Properties does not launch

I've been using Linux Mint for a while now, and I get this problem while mixing and matching Ubuntu repos with Mint ones... also because of some critical PPAs for my system (including Intel Graphics Drivers from glascen).


So the problem description goes like this: Software Properties does not launch and we get the following error when trying to launch it from the terminal with sudo software-properties-gtk

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/software-properties-gtk", line 112, in
    app = SoftwarePropertiesGtk(datadir=options.data_dir, options=options, file=file)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/softwareproperties/gtk/SoftwarePropertiesGtk.py", line 86, in __init__
    SoftwareProperties.__init__(self, options=options, datadir=datadir)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/softwareproperties/SoftwareProperties.py", line 90, in __init__
    self.reload_sourceslist()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/softwareproperties/SoftwareProperties.py", line 538, in reload_sourceslist
    self.distro.get_sources(self.sourceslist)  
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/aptsources/distro.py", line 90, in get_sources
    raise NoDistroTemplateException("Error: could not find a "
aptsources.distro.NoDistroTemplateException: Error: could not find a distribution template

The problem is related to the LSB^[1] entries of the OS. This can be verified with the command : 

sudo lsb_release -a

Ideally you should get an output in the terminal like this:

Distributor ID:LinuxMint
Description:Linux Mint 10 Julia
Release: 10
Codename:julia

The codename varies according to the OS. 

Here's a list:  

Linux Mint 7	gloria
Linux Mint 8	helena
Linux Mint 9	isadora
Linux Mint 10	julia
Linux Mint 11	katya

So that is what you want to be your LSB entry. To change the entry do this (from the terminal):

sudo gedit /etc/lsb-release

OR Press Alt+F2 and type this:

gksudo gedit /etc/lsb-release

And it should look like this:

DISTRIB_ID=LinuxMint
DISTRIB_RELEASE=10
 DISTRIB_CODENAME=julia
 DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Linux Mint 10 Julia"

Mind you, my OS was Julia, so I named it thus. Name it appropriately for your OS.

[1]: Linux Standard Base