Ubuntu
update-manager package

Could not initialize package information

Asked by Christophermluciano on 2011-06-07

I received the following error after a fresh install of Ubuntu 11.04 x32. I restarted after some updates and nothing further.

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/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_natty_main_binary-i386_Packages, E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.'

Question information

Language:: English Edit question

Status:: Solved

For:: Ubuntu update-manager Edit question

Assignee:: No assignee Edit question

Solved by:: Christophermluciano

Solved:: 2011-08-03

Last query:: 2011-08-03

Last reply:: 2011-06-08

Link existing bug

Revision history for this message

actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said on 2011-06-07:

sudo cp -arf /var/lib/dpkg /var/lib/dpkg.backup
sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/status-old /var/lib/dpkg/status
sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/available-old /var/lib/dpkg/available
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/dpkg/updates/*; sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists
sudo mkdir /var/lib/apt/lists; sudo mkdir /var/lib/apt/lists/partial
LANG=C;sudo apt-get clean; LANG=C;sudo apt-get autoclean
LANG=C;sudo apt-get update
sudo dpkg --clear-avail; sudo dpkg --configure -a
LANG=C;sudo apt-get install -f
LANG=C;sudo apt-get update
LANG=C;sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Revision history for this message

Christophermluciano (christophermluciano) said on 2011-06-08:

I applied all actions listed above and still received many error messages. The last one is listed below.

Reading package lists... Error!
E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_natty_main_binary-i386_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.