Launchpad itself

unresolved problem in update manager

Asked by Paul Mooney

For the past week I have been encountering a problem with the Update Manager and Package Manager programs in my installation of Ubuntu 10.10. I get the following message when I attempt to launch either program, also if it is important, the red stop sign with a hyphen appears in the top menu bar.
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Could not initialize the package information

An unresolvable problem occurred while initializing the package information.

Please report this bug against the 'update-manager' package and include the following error message:

'E:Encountered a section with no Package: header, E:Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_maverick-security_universe_binary-i386_Packages, E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.'
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I have read several similar bug reports in Launchpad, but none were exactly the same. If someone can give me the proper information to resolve this issue, I'd greatly appreciate the help.

Here is my sources.list:
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#
# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 10.10 _Maverick Meerkat_ - Release i386 (20101007)]/ maverick main restricted

#deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 10.10 _Maverick Meerkat_ - Release i386 (20101007)]/ maverick main restricted
# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates main restricted

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates universe

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick multiverse
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'backports'
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
# deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-backports main restricted universe multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository.
## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
# deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu maverick partner
# deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu maverick partner

## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by third-party
## developers who want to ship their latest software.
deb http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu maverick main
deb-src http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu maverick main

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu maverick-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu maverick-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu maverick-security universe
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu maverick-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu maverick-security multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu maverick-security multiverse
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Help would be greatly appreciated.

Paul
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Paul Mooney
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Revision history for this message
Paul Mooney (wordbox) said : 		#1

Well, I solved this problem with some help.

I had read and re-read a number of similar problem reports in this forum, I found that there was a recurring answer to many of them. Although none of the other problems were exactly like mine, I felt that I should take the plunge and try the answer that was given and, evidently, solved those other problems.

I'd like to thank Mark Rijckenberg for the information that he supplied to someone else and which ultimately solved my issue. Here is his answer to someone else's question, it helped me and I hope that it will help someone in the future.
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Mark Rijckenberg said on 2009-07-30:

Hi,

First please make sure to close all open programs, including all package managers like Synaptic, Add/remove programs, etc ...

Then please try this procedure:

Step 1: Open Terminal from "Applications->Accessories->

Terminal"

Step 2: Run the following commands (copy-paste each line below to the Terminal then hit <enter> after each line)

sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/status-old /var/lib/dpkg/status

sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/info/*

sudo apt-get update

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/*

sudo dpkg --clear-avail

sudo dpkg --configure -a

sudo aptitude install -f

sudo aptitude update

sudo aptitude dist-upgrade

Step 3: Please post results (copy/paste terminal output from each command) on this thread

Hope it helps,

Regards,

Mark
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One word of caution, I found that when I did as Mark said, the second and fourth commands did not remove anything for me. They didn't hurt anything, but they didn't remove anything.

I have a friend, who had been suffering with the same problem and he followed this suggestion as well. It solved his issue also.

I'm not sure, but it seems that the problem arose after a download of a program using the Package Manager or the download of an update with the Update Manager over a wireless connection. Wireless connections are not always 100% reliable, bits get dropped.

This was a first for me, and I've been using Ubuntu for about six years, I guess that one never stops learning.

Paul
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