Ubuntu
update-manager package

Update manager stopped working

Asked by AZtech

Package operation failed
The installation or removal of a software package failed.
installArchives() failed: Preconfiguring packages ...
Preconfiguring packages ...
Preconfiguring packages ...
Preconfiguring packages ...
dpkg: error: parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/status' near line 29744 package 'evolution':
 `Replaces' field, invalid package name `evolution-common': character `' not allowed (only letters, digits and characters `-+._')
Error in function:

In addition I'm unable to download from the Ubuntu Software Center

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu update-manager Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
actionparsnip
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
AZtech (az-tech) said : 		#1

I'm running Ubuntu 12.04

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

sudo fuser -vvv /var/lib/dpkg/lock
cat /etc/lsb-release
uname -a
sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/lock
sudo cp -arf /var/lib/dpkg /var/lib/dpkg.backup
sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/status /var/lib/dpkg/status-bad
sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/status-old /var/lib/dpkg/status
sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/available /var/lib/dpkg/available-bad
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 rm /var/cache/apt/*.bin
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 --purge autoremove
LANG=C;sudo apt-get update -o APT::Cache-Limit=25165824
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo dpkg --clear-avail
LANG=C;sudo apt-get -f install
LANG=C;sudo apt-get --fix-missing install
LANG=C;sudo apt-get update -o APT::Cache-Limit=25165824 && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Revision history for this message
AZtech (az-tech) said : 		#3

Thanks actionparsnip, that solved my question.

Revision history for this message
AZtech (az-tech) said : 		#4

Thank you very much...that seems to have fixed my problem,
May I ask, where do you learn this?

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#5

Experience, The commands are on the 'repair broken packages' page. Basically your system has a list of packages, versions and sources of packages in it's system. It is updated when you run:

sudo apt-get update

All the commands do is clear all knowledge of any packages on any servers, then makes it redownload fresh.

It's not overly technical, as soon as I see questions with:

parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/status'
or
cannot parse some package file binary

I just paste that lot.

I'm sure the thngs you can do on Windows would impress newcomers to the OS, same deal. As you use the OS you will become more fluent :)

Revision history for this message
AZtech (az-tech) said : 		#6

Thanks again...next time I'll try and locate the commands myself before asking for help. I just didn't want to have to scrub the drive and reload everything from scratch.
Been there, done that...lost alot of data:)

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#7

Your backups will prevent data loss