update-maneger

Hello Danieru.

What were you doing when this error occured ? A simple upgrade or a dis upgrade ? Which version of ubuntu are you on ?

If you are on jaunty, please run:
"apport-collect 374491"
 to push common logs to this bug.

Thanks

The error is always present in the panel (packages manager) from the moment I boot ubuntu .I got jaunty 9.04 when i try to run ¨äpport-collect 374491¨ it ask me for Please install the package "python-launchpadlib". and when i try to install it give me this error:

 E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (13 Permission denied)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), are you root?

If try to do it as root it give me the same error as the original post:

Reading package lists... Error!
E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/ports.ubuntu.com_ubuntu-ports_dists_jaunty_main_binary-powerpc_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

Sorry for the trouble and thanks in advance for the help.

@Danieru

The first logs are normal, if you try to do anything related to package management (install, remove, ...) as a normal user, this will fail with this message.

Now, your package list is in an inconsistent state (did you suffer a power failure, or something else leading to this problem)?

I never encountered this problem so the best I can do is to ask you to run in a terminal:

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/* -vf
sudo apt-get update

(Based on http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/debian-linux-help/51937-aptitude-problem-problem-mergelist.html)

Please tell me if this solves your problem.

Also, I will convert this bug to a question, as it is not a bug strictly speaking.

Good luck.

Converting to a question, this is about recovering from an inconsistent package list

(Repeating myself to put the question in the relevant state)

Please run

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

sudo apt-get update