package manager,update manger not working

[devananda]

Binary package hint: synaptic

in jaunty ..eeepc1000h .
when i try to open package manager i got the message

E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_intrepid-backports_restricted_binary-i386_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
E: _cache->open() failed, please report.

and when itry to open the update manager it comes a message that says:

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_intrepid-backports_restricted_binary-i386_Packages, E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.'

[Nitesh Mistry (mistrynitesh)]

Hi!

Thank you filing the bug report.

However please consider providing the following details:
1. The version of package manager (synaptic) you are using
2. Steps taken to open the package manager (command-line/menu-list/using Alt+F2/some-other-way)
3. On clicking which button/giving which command produced the error mentioned in your report?
4. Are you able to use apt-get to perform the package management?

[fatski (paul-karnowski)]

This also affects me, Ubuntu Jaunty, cannot run any package manager, Synaptic, Update manager, apt-get, or aptitude from the menu or the terminal. I get the error mentioned in the original bug report. All versions are as supplied in the repositories.

[fatski (paul-karnowski)]

Bit of further investigation:

My routers connection to my DSL went down and it looks like the file mentioned in the error message has been overwritten by the html error page supplied by the router when it couldn't connect to the internet, see attached.

It appears many other (but not all) files in /var/lib/apt/lists have also been overwritten with this html error message and this is what is preventing the package managers from starting. Deleting each of the files which had been overwritten allowed synaptic to start successfully though I think I lost a couple of repositories.
Maybe the package managers could sdo some validiation before writing to the config files?

[Dirk Bins (dirkbins)]

fatski wrote:
> This also affects me, Ubuntu Jaunty, cannot run any package manager,
> Synaptic, Update manager, apt-get, or aptitude from the menu or the
> terminal. I get the error mentioned in the original bug report. All
> versions are as supplied in the repositories.
>
> ** Changed in: synaptic (Ubuntu)
> Status: Incomplete => Confirmed
>
>
I managed to solve this problem by changing permissions for the files
mentioned and then deleting them.
After that apt-get update worked fine and reinstalled all the removed
and missing files.
Then change back the permissions to their original state.
In my case all worked smoothly after that.

DB

[devananda (devananda7)]

myy problem ,was that i was running ubuntu jaunty ,,when there was a part
still of 10.8..installed
now its solved.

2009/9/27 Dirk Bins <email address hidden>

> fatski wrote:
> > This also affects me, Ubuntu Jaunty, cannot run any package manager,
> > Synaptic, Update manager, apt-get, or aptitude from the menu or the
> > terminal. I get the error mentioned in the original bug report. All
> > versions are as supplied in the repositories.
> >
> > ** Changed in: synaptic (Ubuntu)
> > Status: Incomplete => Confirmed
> >
> >
> I managed to solve this problem by changing permissions for the files
> mentioned and then deleting them.
> After that apt-get update worked fine and reinstalled all the removed
> and missing files.
> Then change back the permissions to their original state.
> In my case all worked smoothly after that.
>
> DB
>
> --
> package manager,update manger not working
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/389569
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in “synaptic” package in Ubuntu: Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: synaptic
>
> in jaunty ..eeepc1000h .
> when i try to open package manager i got the message
>
> E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
> E: Problem with MergeList
> /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_intrepid-backports_restricted_binary-i386_Packages
> E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
> E: _cache->open() failed, please report.
>
>
> and when itry to open the update manager it comes a message that says:
>
>
> 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_intrepid-backports_restricted_binary-i386_Packages,
> E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.'
>

[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.