Apt-get error: E: The method driver /usr/lib/apt/methods/https could not be found

I’ve been getting the following error when using apt-get update with Debian Wheezy recently.

E: The method driver /usr/lib/apt/methods/https could not be found.

It seems that apt-get only supports HTTP connections by default, and throws an error with any HTTPS URLs.  You’ll likely see this error message if you add a new apt source URL that starts with https. What’s most annoying is that apt doesn’t simply ignore the HTTPS URL when updating the local cache, it actually stops all updates regardless of URL schema.

apt-get update
E: The method driver /usr/lib/apt/methods/https could not be found.

Luckily the fix is easy and requires an additional apt package to handle the SSL URLs. Run the below command to install the apt-transport-https package to enable apt to use HTTPS URL lists.

apt-get install apt-transport-https

Once this is installed, apt should function and update its local cache from your apt lists.