Ubuntu
update-manager package

Read error - read (5 Input/output error), E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

Asked by Anders L

I'm trying to run the update manager and get the following message.
Can anyone help me? / Anders

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:Read error - read (5 Input/output error), E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.'

Question information

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Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu update-manager Edit question
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Solved by:
Mark Rijckenberg
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Revision history for this message
Mark Rijckenberg (markrijckenberg) said : 		#1

Hi,

First make sure that update-manager, synaptic, etc... are all closed and not running somewhere.

Then open a Terminal and enter the following commands:

sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/status
sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/status-old /var/lib/dpkg/status
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude upgrade
sudo aptitude install -f

After that, retry opening update-manager.

Regards,

Mark

Revision history for this message
Anders L (alindstrom) said : 		#2

Thanks! That helped.. to some extent, but there is still some strange going on:

E: Lists directory /var/lib/apt/lists/partial is missing.
E: Internal error: couldn't generate list of packages to download

Regards
Anders

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

Hi,

First make sure that update-manager, synaptic, etc... are all closed and not running somewhere.

Then open a Terminal and enter the following commands:

sudo mkdir /var/lib/apt/lists/partial
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude upgrade
sudo aptitude install -f

After that, retry opening update-manager.

Regards,

Mark

Revision history for this message
Anders L (alindstrom) said : 		#4

Thanks Mark Rijckenberg, that solved my question.

Revision history for this message
João Pimentel (joao-pimentel-ferreira) said : 		#5

I'm constantly having the some problem, and the solution really works, thanks

But just a small detail, after some time working on Ubuntu without doing anything rather special, it seems I got the some problem and I have to repeat all the procedures again.

Thanks Mark
Regards
João

Revision history for this message
Indian Art (goldfish-aol) said : 		#6

Could not download all repository indexes

The repository may no longer be available or could not be contacted because of network problems. If available an older version of the failed index will be used. Otherwise the repository will be ignored. Check your network connection and ensure the repository address in the preferences is correct.

Revision history for this message
tesaba (terry-r-bartley) said : 		#7

I have been working tirelessly on this same issue for the last 36 hours. You made this all so simple, Thanks!
Best wishes!
Terry

Revision history for this message
Mark Rijckenberg (markrijckenberg) said : 		#8

Hi Terry,

You are welcome.

In fact, the troubleshooting procedure has been improved. The improvements are now in the following document:

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

Regards,

Mark

Revision history for this message
Ramakrishnan Sethuraman (ram-uky) said : 		#9

Mark -

Thank you for the solution. This worked great.

Ram