Ubuntu
synaptic package

Cant seem to update thru terminal or Synaptic package manager

Asked by Bryan Cooper

Whenever I try to open Synaptic package manager I get:

E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/packages.medibuntu.org_dists_jaunty_free_binary-i386_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
E: _cache->open() failed, please report.

I cant seem to update anything. I've even tried updating through terminal and I still get an error.

Anyone have any ideas?

I'm running 9.04 dual boot w/ XP

Coop

Question information

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Status:
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Ubuntu synaptic Edit question
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Solved by:
Mark Rijckenberg
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Revision history for this message
Ian Ace (iaculallad) said : 		#1

Did you try rebooting your system?

Revision history for this message
Bryan Cooper (bcooper67) said : 		#2

Yes, multiple times.

Revision history for this message
Best Mark Rijckenberg (markrijckenberg) said : 		#3

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PackageManagerTroubleshootingProcedure

Revision history for this message
Bryan Cooper (bcooper67) said : 		#4

Here is the output I got when i ran the trouble shooting commands

cooper@cooper-laptop:~$ cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=9.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=jaunty
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 9.04"
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$ uname -a
Linux cooper-laptop 2.6.28-18-generic #60-Ubuntu SMP Fri Mar 12 04:40:52 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$ sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/lock
rm: cannot remove `/var/lib/apt/lists/lock': No such file or directory
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$ sudo cp -arf /var/lib/dpkg /var/lib/dpkg.backup
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$ sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/status-old /var/lib/dpkg/status
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$ sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/available-old /var/lib/dpkg/available
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$ sudo rm -rf /var/lib/dpkg/updates/*
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$ sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$ sudo mkdir /var/lib/apt/lists
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$ sudo mkdir /var/lib/apt/lists/partial
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$ sudo rm /var/cache/apt/*.bin
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$ LANG=C;sudo apt-get clean
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$ LANG=C;sudo apt-get autoclean
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$ LANG=C;sudo apt-get --purge autoremove
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libtsmux0
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  libtsmux0*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 102kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
Abort.
cooper@cooper-laptop:~$

Revision history for this message
Bryan Cooper (bcooper67) said : 		#5

I just tried running the updater again and it now works! Can someone explain to me what happened and what fixed it?
Thanks guys
Coop

Revision history for this message
Bryan Cooper (bcooper67) said : 		#6

Thanks Mark Rijckenberg, that solved my question.