update-manager Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists

[rog]

Xubuntu 12.04.4 throws this error when attempting an update:
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:Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise-updates_main_i18n_Translation-en (1), E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.'

And, running the bug reporting tool from the CLI against update-manager fails.

This is a serious fault! I am callsifying it as a security item since security updates can not be downloaded.

/Roger

[Seth Arnold (seth-arnold)]

Thanks for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. We appreciate the difficulties you are facing, but this appears to be a "regular" (non-security) bug. I have unmarked it as a security issue since this bug does not show evidence of allowing attackers to cross privilege boundaries nor directly cause loss of data/privacy. Please feel free to report any other bugs you may find.

[Seth Arnold (seth-arnold)]

With errors like this a work-around is to delete the offending file; try this:

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise-updates_main_i18n_Translation-en
sudo apt-get update

Thanks

[rog (linux-rog)]

Seth,

That did the trick - thanks for the quick response (last night).

/Roger

[Paul White (paulw2u)]

Marking as Invalid as no outstanding bug to work on.