Encountered a section with no Package: header

[Moffo Phiri]

chisang2013@chisang2013-HP-ProBook-4430s:/var/www/bart2$ sudo apt-get update
[sudo] password for chisang2013:
Sorry, try again.
[sudo] password for chisang2013:
Get:1 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security Release.gpg [933 B]
Get:2 http://extras.ubuntu.com raring Release.gpg [72 B]
Get:3 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring Release.gpg [933 B]
Get:4 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security Release [40.8 kB]
Get:5 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-updates Release.gpg [933 B]
Get:6 http://extras.ubuntu.com raring Release [9,756 B]
Get:7 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-backports Release.gpg [933 B]
Get:8 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring Release [40.8 kB]
Get:9 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/main Sources [58.3 kB]
Get:10 http://extras.ubuntu.com raring/main Sources [14 B]
Get:11 http://extras.ubuntu.com raring/main i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:12 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/restricted Sources [14 B]
Get:13 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/universe Sources [14.3 kB]
Get:14 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-updates Release [40.8 kB]
Get:15 http://extras.ubuntu.com raring/main Translation-en_US
Get:16 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/multiverse Sources [2,262 B]
Get:17 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/main i386 Packages [154 kB]
Get:18 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-backports Release [40.8 kB]
Get:19 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring/main Sources [963 kB]
Get:20 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring/restricted Sources [5,987 B]
Get:21 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring/universe Sources [5,838 kB]
Get:22 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/main i386 Packages [154 kB]
Get:23 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/main i386 Packages [154 kB]
Get:24 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/main i386 Packages [154 kB]
Get:25 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/main i386 Packages [154 kB]
Get:26 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring/universe Sources [5,838 kB]
Get:27 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring/multiverse Sources [171 kB]
Get:28 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring/main i386 Packages [1,168 kB]
Get:29 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/main i386 Packages [154 kB]
Get:30 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring/restricted i386 Packages [9,623 B]
Get:31 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring/universe i386 Packages [5,405 kB]
Get:32 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/main i386 Packages [154 kB]
Get:33 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/main i386 Packages [154 kB]
Get:34 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/main i386 Packages [154 kB]
Get:35 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/restricted i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:36 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/universe i386 Packages [53.7 kB]
Get:37 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/multiverse i386 Packages [3,858 B]
Get:38 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/main Translation-en [79.9 kB]
Get:39 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/multiverse Translation-en [1,826 B]
Get:40 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/restricted Translation-en [14 B]
Get:41 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/universe Translation-en [32.1 kB]
Get:42 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/main Translation-en_US
Get:43 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring/multiverse i386 Packages [131 kB]
Get:44 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring/main Translation-en [673 kB]
Get:45 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring/multiverse Translation-en [98.4 kB]
Get:46 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring/restricted Translation-en [2,767 B]
Get:47 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring/universe Translation-en [3,736 kB]
Get:48 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-updates/main Sources [90.4 kB]
Get:49 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-updates/restricted Sources [14 B]
Get:50 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-updates/universe Sources [83.0 kB]
Get:51 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-updates/multiverse Sources [2,797 B]
Get:52 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-updates/main i386 Packages [220 kB]
Get:53 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-updates/restricted i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:54 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-updates/universe i386 Packages [170 kB]
Get:55 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-updates/multiverse i386 Packages [4,813 B]
Get:56 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-updates/main Translation-en [108 kB]
Get:57 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-updates/multiverse Translation-en [2,212 B]
Get:58 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-updates/restricted Translation-en [14 B]
Get:59 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-updates/universe Translation-en [86.0 kB]
Get:60 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-backports/main Sources [902 B]
Get:61 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-backports/restricted Sources [14 B]
Get:62 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-backports/universe Sources [7,145 B]
Get:63 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-backports/multiverse Sources [1,403 B]
Get:64 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-backports/main i386 Packages [565 B]
Get:65 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-backports/restricted i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:66 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-backports/universe i386 Packages [8,489 B]
Get:67 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-backports/multiverse i386 Packages [1,345 B]
Get:68 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-backports/main Translation-en [269 B]
Get:69 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-backports/multiverse Translation-en [1,040 B]
Get:70 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-backports/restricted Translation-en [14 B]
Get:71 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring-backports/universe Translation-en [6,390 B]
Get:72 http://mw.archive.ubuntu.com raring/main Translation-en_US
Fetched 13.8 MB in 24min 23s (9,422 B/s)
Reading package lists... Error!
E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/mw.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_raring_main_i18n_Translation-en%5fUS
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

[Manas Dutta (13030142008-t)]

Remove the merge list manually. It might have been corrupted with your recent update. Type the following command

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/* -vf

then type the update command as

sudo apt-get update

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[David Kalnischkies (donkult)]

Raring is out-of-support for 2 years now (and was already unsupported at the time of the bugreport) and the report misses all sorts of details to be actionable.

I guess this was a "web-portal confusing apt" issue back then, which is long fixed by now, hence opportunistically closing – if that is reproducible in any recent version feel free to reopen.