[SOLVED] Synaptic and Update Managers screwed in UP5

[DougB]

I've been running UP5 Cinnamon/MATE with no problems for a number of weeks, but after a recent Update suddenly find the Synaptic and Update Managers totally screwed.
On opening Synaptic Manager I get the following message:
"E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/packages.linuxmint.com_dists_debian_import_i18n_Translation-en
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
E: _cache->open() failed, please report."
and Synaptic Manager crashes.

On opening Update Manager I get this:
"W: GPG error: http://lmde-mirror.gwendallebihan.net testing Release: The following signatures were invalid: BADSIG 07DC563D1F41B907 Christian Marillat <marillat@debian.org>"
On closing that window, this appears:
"E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/packages.linuxmint.com_dists_debian_import_i18n_Translation-en
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
E: _cache->open() failed, please report"

and at the bottom of the Update Manager panel is the message:
"Could not refresh the list of packages"

How do I get Synaptic and Update managers back to working?

[xenopeek]

You can remove the package lists, and then fetch them anew. To do so open a terminal and run the following two commands (one at a time):

Code: Select all

sudo rm -fv /var/lib/apt/lists/*
sudo apt-get update

That should solve the MergeList issue.

[DougB]

Many thanks; that did the trick

[Massimiliano]

Thanks, I had the same issues and this worked perfectly!

[anassor]

Me too! thank you
but i'd like to know what happened, why that error appeared...anyone can explain? i have no idea how mergelist works.

[ImpliedConsent]

You can remove the package lists, and then fetch them anew. To do so open a terminal and run the following two commands (one at a time):

Code: Select all

sudo rm -fv /var/lib/apt/lists/*
sudo apt-get update

That should solve the MergeList issue.

Perfecto - I had a feeling I needed to remove the lists - this sealed it and now I'm golden as well. TY

[tomdiana]

Thank you! This also fixed this problem for me.

[hman469]

Thank you, finding this fix made my day!

[ber]

Thank you, this fixed my problem too.
Another question...this happens quite often on my system.

I would be able to resolve it somehow- essentially i can see that its related to my repository list not being correct- why does it change??

[xenopeek]

The new mintSources program in development for Linux Mint 15 (but AFAIK also coming to LMDE) will have a button to fix such issues. See heading "Latest development" here: http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2337. I'm not sure why it happens, perhaps related to interrupted network connection?

essentially i can see that its related to my repository list not being correct

How so? Can you share your repository list. Do so with copying the output of the following command:

Code: Select all

inxi -r

[J@n]

Hi All,

Had the same problem and the tip from Xenopeek did the job for the better part. After I applied the "sudo rm ..." and the "sudo update..." I got this error:

W: GPG error: http://mintlinux.mirror.triple-it.nl nadia Release: The following signatures were invalid: BADSIG 3EE67F3D0FF405B2 Clement Lefebvre (Linux Mint Package Repository v1) <root@linuxmint.com>

I changed the download server (Update Manager > Software Sources > Download from) to another server and presto! Updates came flying in without a glitch.

HTH

Greetz,

J@n

[KeesA]

I had the same problem as you today J@n.
Thanks for help, I changed to the main server and no bad sign message came up.
Any thoughts why triple-it.nl gave the message?