All the installations crash

[Pushpalanka]

Realese : 10.10 - the Maverick Meerkat

apt-cache policy pkgname => Segmentation fault
(I can not start software center)

I wanted to install vim and later I tried to install several software like adobe flash. The error i am getting is,

"root@pushpalanka-Latitude-D830:/home/pushpalanka# apt-get install vim
Reading package lists... Error!
E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_maverick-security_main_binary-i386_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
root@pushpalanka-Latitude-D830:/home/pushpalanka# apt-cache policy pkgname
Segmentation fault
"

[Marc Deslauriers (mdeslaur)]

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.

[Julian Andres Klode (juliank)]

Please remove /var/cache/apt/*.bin files

[Julian Andres Klode (juliank)]

More precisely:

 bug 1) The lists files: Removing the invalid Packages file should help
 bug 2) The crash: Remove /var/cache/apt/*.bin files, and run the command again

Please do the (2), then (1)