update-apt-xapian-index crashed with SystemError in OPEN

[Robert D. Martin]

Binary package hint: apt-xapian-index

I can only guess at the cause. However, in a previous sitting, due to performance problems (massive hdd activity and consequent unresponsiveness der gnome desktop) I had on a hunch removed "citadel" and "checksecurity" and then also removed "clamav" and "freshclam", whereby /var/lib/clamav did not get deleted due to its yet including both "clam.cld" and "group.cld". I had in a new sitting just completed removing those files and that directory as follows...:

romatida@RDMRMPC:~$ sudo rm -r -v /var/lib/clamav
„/var/lib/clamav/main.cld“ entfernt
„/var/lib/clamav/daily.cld“ entfernt
Verzeichnis wurde entfernt: „/var/lib/clamav“

I had held them to be but remnants of the clamav installation, as indicated in the attached screenshot of the synaptic message I to that effect had received.

Only then did I first notice that an error alert was being displayed with the above information being offered. Did I perhaps err to remove those files and that directory?

The system user, "powerdev", had been the owner of those files and of that directory; group ownership had been "clamav" with the number "129", which no longer existed after the removal of "clamav". it had thus been necessary for me to first change that ownership in order to delete those objects.

ProblemType: Crash
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
ExecutablePath: /usr/sbin/update-apt-xapian-index
InterpreterPath: /usr/bin/python2.6
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: apt-xapian-index 0.16
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcAttrCurrent: unconfined
ProcCmdline: /usr/bin/python /usr/sbin/update-apt-xapian-index -q
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
PythonArgs: ['/usr/sbin/update-apt-xapian-index', '-q']
SourcePackage: apt-xapian-index
Title: update-apt-xapian-index crashed with SystemError in open()
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-9-generic i686
UserGroups: root

[Robert D. Martin (ets3rodamar)]

[quote]
File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 75, in open
    self._cache = apt_pkg.GetCache(progress)
SystemError: E:read, still have 7538982 to read but none left, E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.[/quote]

Btw that gnome desktop unresponsiveness led me to abruptly (reset button evtly used) interrupt a synaptic based removal of "citadel". Perhaps the lists or status file were therefore yet left in an incomplete status?

(P.S. due to its private status - I presume - I am currently not authorised to access that other bug, of which this one be said to be a duplicate. I therefore add this comment here instead of there.)