Mint has asked this failure to be reported

[Dee Gee]

E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_trusty-security_main_i18n_Translation-en
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
E: _cache->open() failed, please report.

===================================================

Running Synaptic. Expected to get Apps offerings. Hitting various problems but comes back to this error report, even after playing with aptitude recipes.
Also get a "software index broken" message from running GDebi

Mint17; no updates outstanding.

$ mintwelcome
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintWelcome/mintWelcome.py", line 219, in <module>
    MintWelcome()
  File "/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintWelcome/mintWelcome.py", line 125, in __init__
    cache = apt.Cache()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 107, in __init__
    self.open(progress)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 151, 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/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_trusty-security_main_i18n_Translation-en, E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

[Dee Gee (dgmg412)]

Hi

Very glad you knew where to look!!

I flushed out the list folder (missing recipe point is the need to work
from root to over-ride normal permissions?) and all now seems to be running
as expected.

Now....can I sell this to my wife as "fixed and better" or will I still
have to buy her a new Win 8.1 PC?

Many thanks for the pointer.

dg

On 22 October 2014 15:12, Monsta <email address hidden> wrote:

> *** This bug is a duplicate of bug 756317 ***
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/756317
>
> ** This bug has been marked a duplicate of bug 756317
> Captive portals may corrupt apt translation indices
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1383872
>
> Title:
> Mint has asked this failure to be reported
>
> Status in The Linux Mint Distribution:
> New
>
> Bug description:
> E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
> E: Problem with MergeList
> /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_trusty-security_main_i18n_Translation-en
> E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
> E: _cache->open() failed, please report.
>
> ===================================================
>
> Running Synaptic. Expected to get Apps offerings. Hitting various
> problems but comes back to this error report, even after playing with
> aptitude recipes.
> Also get a "software index broken" message from running GDebi
>
> Mint17; no updates outstanding.
>
> $ mintwelcome
> Traceback (most recent call last):
> File "/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintWelcome/mintWelcome.py", line 219, in
> <module>
> MintWelcome()
> File "/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintWelcome/mintWelcome.py", line 125, in
> __init__
> cache = apt.Cache()
> File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 107, in
> __init__
> self.open(progress)
> File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 151, 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/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_trusty-security_main_i18n_Translation-en,
> E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/linuxmint/+bug/1383872/+subscriptions
>