ubuntu help

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twophat

48 posts

Geek

#27284 20-Oct-2008 19:54

Hi,

just recently my upgrade manager stopped working, as did the add/remove programs utility.

the upgrade manager posts this message:

"A unresolvable problem occurred while initializing the package information.

Please report this bug against the 'update-manager' package and include the following error message:

'E:Problem parsing dependency Depends, E:Error occurred while processing btnx (NewVersion1), E:Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/repoubuntusoftware.info_dists_harty_all_binary-i386_Packages, E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.'"

the add/remove programs utility posts this message:

This is a major failure of your software management system. Please check for broken packages with synaptic, check the file permissions and correctness of the file '/etc/apt/sources.list' and reload the software information with: 'sudo apt-get update' and 'sudo apt-get install -f'.

- I followed the instructions and it did its thing and then came up with this....

Reading package lists... Error!
E: Problem parsing dependency Depends
E: Error occurred while processing btnx (NewVersion1)
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/repoubuntusoftware.info_dists_harty_all_binary-i386_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

I'm a bit stuck here, any ideas what to do?

blakamin

4431 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1306
Inactive user

#172360 20-Oct-2008 20:26

That source is broken... remove and try again.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/282591

twophat

48 posts

Geek

#172528 21-Oct-2008 15:22

sweet thanks! how do i do that?

tknz

182 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 7

#172555 21-Oct-2008 16:38

I haven't come across the problem but sources is here > /etc/apt/sources.list
I don't know about your linux knowledge -

but open terminal,

sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list

Should you not know how to use editor then,

scroll to the section you want, delete the line, if it isn't using something it will be commented out,

e.g

#dont use this

You should probably stick to commenting out the line as opposed to deleting it, however if you are confident with yourself then delete it.

To comment out a line you need to go to insert mode by pressing 'i'

then when finished press escape once,

then shift Z Z (press the Z twice) to save your changes and exit editor.

Cheers,

T

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Any views and ideas that I have expressed in my comments are my own, and do not represent my place of work.
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blakamin

4431 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1306
Inactive user

#172589 21-Oct-2008 18:58

Or you can go to system> administraton> software sources and untick the box in "third party software" in front of repoubuntusoftware.info_dists_harty_all_binary-i386_Packages.

It might even be in "ubuntu software" considering you're using "ultimate", but I doubt it. (I'm running Intrepid on 2 boxes here so I'm not sure about ultimate)

Also probably not the best idea to delete it as it ~~will~~ should be fixed soon.

twophat

48 posts

Geek

#172693 22-Oct-2008 09:19

Thanks for the help - just went into the software sources and unticked (seemed the simplier quicker option) and the upgrade manager started working again.

thanks for the advice