[Bug 439796] Re: Corrupted /var/lib/dpkg/status

[Gabe Gorelick]

Good point, but dpkg doesn't need to hide it completely. What's wrong
with using the backup file but also notifying the user (through a direct
warning or maybe through a logging statement) about the problem? That
way, novice users (that can't even manage to figure out how to use the
old file) aren't left with a system that can't receive any updates, and
they know that they need to maybe look into geting a new hard drive.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/439796

Title:
  Corrupted /var/lib/dpkg/status

Status in “dpkg” package in Ubuntu:
  Incomplete

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: dpkg

  Trying to apply updates today, I received the following error:

  dpkg: parse error, in file `/var/lib/dpkg/status' near line 41262 in package `scim'
  :
   newline in field name `Orig"'
  E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)
  A package failed to install. Trying to recover:
  dpkg: parse error, in file `/var/lib/dpkg/status' near line 41262 package `scim'
  :
   newline in field name `Orig"'

  I can now no longer install any packages.

  ProblemType: Bug
  Architecture: i386
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
  ExecutablePath: /usr/sbin/synaptic
  NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
  Package: synaptic 0.62.5ubuntu3
  ProcAttrCurrent: unconfined
  ProcEnviron:
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: synaptic
  Uname: Linux 2.6.28-15-generic i686

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