Could not initialize the package information

[Frank Hieber]

Binary package hint: update-manager

Fresh install of 8.04 x64. Attempts to update via Synaptic, Update Manager, or apt-get all yield similar message (see below). I have not installed anything on this machine yet. Just the OS.

Error Message from Update Manager:
****************************
A 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_hardy_main_binary-amd64_Packages, E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.'
*****************************

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

Thanks for your bugreport.

This sounds like the lists file is/was corrupted at some point. Could you please open a terminal and run:
$ sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/us*
$ sudo apt-get update
and see if that fixes the problem?

[Frank Hieber (ztirffritz)]

Ultimately, things got so bad that I wiped it and re-installed. It was
locking up, fsck would fail, updates wouldn't install. Something had just
gone horribly wrong. I've not had much luck with this version of Ubuntu,
but as always, thanks for responding to my plea for help. Perhaps install
number 38 will be the magic number...

On Tue, May 6, 2008 at 8:20 AM, Michael Vogt <email address hidden>
wrote:

> Thanks for your bugreport.
>
> This sounds like the lists file is/was corrupted at some point. Could you
> please open a terminal and run:
> $ sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/us*
> $ sudo apt-get update
> and see if that fixes the problem?
>
> ** Changed in: update-manager (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Incomplete
>
> --
> Could not initialize the package information
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/225830
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

--
Frank Hieber

Mac OS X...because making UNIX user-friendly was easier than fixing Windows.

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

Thanks for following up. I'm closing this report due to your last comment. Don't hesitate to submit any new bug.