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Ubuntu 12.04 unstable: software update, synaptic, software center and apport crash

Asked by Angelo

i cannot use any of these anymore. No specific error is displayed and I can't even send a report beacuse apport crashes as well.
These are a few lines from syslog:
Apr 4 16:08:08 angelo-00000000000000000000000 AptDaemon: INFO: Initializing daemon
Apr 4 16:08:08 angelo-00000000000000000000000 dbus[585]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.debian.apt'
Apr 4 16:08:08 angelo-00000000000000000000000 AptDaemon.PackageKit: INFO: Initializing PackageKit compat layer
Apr 4 16:08:09 angelo-00000000000000000000000 kernel: [ 154.821093] software-center[1985]: segfault at b8278500 ip 074dabd0 sp bfaa7640 error 4 in libapt-pkg.so.4.12.0[748f000+123000]
Apr 4 16:08:54 angelo-00000000000000000000000 kernel: [ 199.841195] apport-gtk[2045]: segfault at ba38c500 ip 04abdbd0 sp b008fd50 error 4 in libapt-pkg.so.4.12.0[4a72000+123000]
Apr 4 16:10:13 angelo-00000000000000000000000 kernel: [ 278.077729] apt-get[2179]: segfault at c20ae500 ip 00810bd0 sp bfa20d20 error 5 in libapt-pkg.so.4.12.0[7c5000+123000]
Apr 4 16:10:37 angelo-00000000000000000000000 kernel: [ 302.156673] apport-gtk[2211]: segfault at bad03500 ip 0568dbd0 sp b0a06d50 error 4 in libapt-pkg.so.4.12.0[5642000+123000]
Apr 4 16:13:09 angelo-00000000000000000000000 AptDaemon: INFO: Quitting due to inactivity
Apr 4 16:13:09 angelo-00000000000000000000000 AptDaemon: INFO: Quitting was requested
Apr 4 16:14:05 angelo-00000000000000000000000 kernel: [ 510.531228] synaptic[2292]: segfault at baf92500 ip 00721bd0 sp bf93ffc0 error 4 in libapt-pkg.so.4.12.0[6d6000+123000]
Apr 4 16:14:32 angelo-00000000000000000000000 kernel: [ 537.902745] synaptic[2329]: segfault at bb73e500 ip 00ed4bd0 sp bfc1b1e0 error 4 in libapt-pkg.so.4.12.0[e89000+123000]
Apr 4 16:14:53 angelo-00000000000000000000000 kernel: [ 558.373421] apport-gtk[2363]: segfault at baafb500 ip 055c8bd0 sp b07fed50 error 4 in libapt-pkg.so.4.12.0[557d000+123000]
Apr 4 16:17:01 angelo-00000000000000000000000 CRON[2416]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Apr 4 16:24:11 angelo-00000000000000000000000 kernel: [ 1116.761614] update-manager[2505]: segfault at ba507500 ip 0888dbd0 sp bfa08110 error 4 in libapt-pkg.so.4.12.0[8842000+123000]
Apr 4 16:26:18 angelo-00000000000000000000000 dbus[585]: [system] Activating service name='org.debian.apt' (using servicehelper)
Apr 4 16:26:19 angelo-00000000000000000000000 AptDaemon: INFO: Initializing daemon
Apr 4 16:26:19 angelo-00000000000000000000000 dbus[585]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.debian.apt'
Apr 4 16:26:19 angelo-00000000000000000000000 AptDaemon.PackageKit: INFO: Initializing PackageKit compat layer
Apr 4 16:26:24 angelo-00000000000000000000000 kernel: [ 1249.092254] software-center[2551]: segfault at b8278500 ip 08647bd0 sp bffd31c0 error 4 in libapt-pkg.so.4.12.0[85fc000+123000]
Apr 4 16:31:20 angelo-00000000000000000000000 AptDaemon: INFO: Quitting due to inactivity
Apr 4 16:31:20 angelo-00000000000000000000000 AptDaemon: INFO: Quitting was requested

what are these segfaults?

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Angelo
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Revision history for this message
Angelo (ange448) said : 		#1

i'm using ubuntu 12.04

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#2

Are you fully updated? You can check with:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get upgrade; sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Revision history for this message
Angelo (ange448) said : 		#3

thanks for the hint, one of the updates must have saved me. The thing is I had already installed updates 2 hours ago.

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#4

If GUI apps don't work you will need to use CLI a ot. This is inherent with Precise being not ready and not stable.

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Angelo (ange448) said : 		#5

ok, I should have known, my bad.

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sfarber53 (sfarber53) said : 		#6

I'm having a number of related issues. Pieces seem to be missing. Apport takes a crap on itself whenever I restart from scratch, all cd burning programs seem to lockup my cd drive after burning a cd correctly. This is not the quality I have come to expect and rely on from Ubuntu.

Does anyone know, factually, what is going on?

Thank in advance,

Steve

Revision history for this message
Ali Madjlesi (sepitmah) said : 		#7

I have a similar problem to angelo for about months. But I can't even do any type of Update or Upgrades ; Because at first stage when its reading the Packages it hits the problem and says:
Reading package lists... Error!
E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/extras.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_quantal_main_binary-i386_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
alex@alex-VPCEE31FX:~$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Reading package lists... Error!
E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/extras.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_quantal_main_binary-i386_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

and when I Type the Command <ubuntu-support-status> ; this is the answer:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/ubuntu-support-status", line 108, in <module>
    cache = apt.Cache()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 102, in __init__
    self.open(progress)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 145, in open
    self._cache = apt_pkg.Cache(progress)
SystemError: E:Encountered a section with no Package: header, E:Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/extras.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_quantal_main_binary-i386_Packages, E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

please help me; it's been a long long time I've not been able to install anything but some Extract-Installing tar.gz Packages which are so limited to find and can not make system-wide changes....

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#8

Quantal is EOL. So there are no more packages for it.