apt-get E: Method http has died unexpectedly!

[Matt MacLeod]

Binary package hint: apt

Starting today on Dapper I'm getting this:

matt@Newcastle:~$ sudo apt-get update
Password:
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com dapper Release.gpg [189B]
Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com dapper-updates Release.gpg [189B]
Get:3 http://security.ubuntu.com dapper-security Release.gpg [189B]
Get:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com breezy-backports Release.gpg [189B]
Ign http://users.musicbrainz.org dapper Release.gpg
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com dapper Release [34.8kB]
Get:6 http://security.ubuntu.com dapper-security Release [19.6kB]
E: Method http has died unexpectedly!

Similar problem in synaptic. Other programs have been randomly segfaulting on network connections as well for a few days (although synaptic was working in the meantime).

[Ryan Rawdon (flieslikeabrick)]

Can anyone explain why this is marked as a duplicate of #39990 ? I don't see any relationship between the two.

I have been seeing this behavior for quite a while. It seems to happen much, much more on a low-latency network with an APT mirror. I have seen it more over IPv6 than IPv4, but I have seen it over both.

ryan@upad:~$ sudo apt-get update
[sudo] password for ryan:
Get:1 http://ted jaunty Release.gpg [189B]
Ign http://ted jaunty/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://ted jaunty/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http://ted jaunty/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://ted jaunty/multiverse Translation-en_US
Get:2 http://ted jaunty-updates Release.gpg [189B]
Ign http://ted jaunty-updates/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://ted jaunty-updates/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http://ted jaunty-updates/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://ted jaunty-updates/multiverse Translation-en_US
Get:3 http://ted jaunty-backports Release.gpg [189B]
Ign http://ted jaunty-backports/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://ted jaunty-backports/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http://ted jaunty-backports/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://ted jaunty-backports/multiverse Translation-en_US
Get:4 http://ted jaunty-security Release.gpg [189B]
Ign http://ted jaunty-security/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://ted jaunty-security/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http://ted jaunty-security/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://ted jaunty-security/multiverse Translation-en_US
Get:5 http://ted jaunty Release [74.6kB]
Get:6 http://ted jaunty-updates Release [41.7kB]
Get:7 http://ted jaunty-backports Release [41.7kB]
Get:8 http://ted jaunty-security Release [41.7kB]
Get:9 http://ted jaunty/main Packages [1280kB]
Hit http://archive.canonical.com jaunty Release.gpg
Ign http://archive.canonical.com jaunty/partner Translation-en_US
Hit http://archive.canonical.com jaunty Release
Get:10 http://ted jaunty/restricted Packages [9217B]
Get:11 http://ted jaunty/main Sources [556kB]
Get:12 http://ted jaunty/restricted Sources [3252B]
Get:13 http://ted jaunty/universe Packages [4733kB]
Hit http://archive.canonical.com jaunty/partner Packages
Hit http://archive.canonical.com jaunty/partne...