[Bug 346386] Re: [MASTER] Update fails with invalid package files with "Encountered a section with no Package: header"

[Edward Goldstick]

Hello,

I just got back to the machine that had this problem and that led me to
submit bug #863742...

... so thanks for your pointer to #802061 within 48 hours.  It seems to
have worked just fine.  I wish I had been able to dig it up myself but
the process is rather convoluted (and while I'm an 'old' Unix user
(fwiw, I remember System III), I am not experimenting with Ubuntu other
than as aa definitive low-cost alternative to Windows XP...

I also thought I'd share this with the last person to post on this
subject because you seem to have made the fix permanent...

... so thanks for that, too, but I must admit that I'm intrigued by the
fact that I still get announcements.  I may try to "unsubscribe" from
the reports but am more curious by the long tail of issues that people
experience.

In any event, keep up the good work.  Thanks again.

Edward


First and foremost,


On Jun 26, 2011, at 1:58 PM, William Ranvaud wrote:

> This issue was reported on ubuntuforums:
> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=863742
> 
> The solution was to type on terminal :
> 
> sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/* -vf
> sudo apt-get update
> 
> Many people are having this issue, have to manually type this to get it
> fixed.
> 
> -- 
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/802061

On Jun 29, 2011, at 5:26 AM, papukaija wrote:

> @Heru: Please *STOP* changing the bug statuses. Thanks.
> 
> @ubuntu-bugcontrol: Please set this bug back to 'Fix committed' as
> 0.8.13.2ubuntu4 is still in proposed. Thanks in advance.
> 
> -- 
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to a
> duplicate bug report (802061).
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/346386
> 
> Title:
>  [MASTER] Update fails with invalid package files with "Encountered a
>  section with no Package: header"
> 
> Status in “apt” package in Ubuntu:
>  Fix Released
> Status in “apt” source package in Natty:
>  Fix Released
> Status in “apt” package in Debian:
>  Fix Released
> 
> Bug description:
>  Binary package hint: adept-updater
> 
>  Pertinent data printed when attempting to run Updater as follows:
> 
>  An unresolvable problem occurred while initializing the package
>  information.
> 
>  Please report this bug against the 'update-manager' package and
>  include the following error message:
> 
>  'E:Encountered a section with no Package: header, E:Problem with
>  MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu
>  .com_ubuntu_dists_intrepid_universe_binary-amd64_Packages, E:The
>  package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.'
> 
>  WORKAROUND:
>  Remove problematic files from /var/lib/apt/lists/ and rerun apt-get update.
> 
>  In the event that one is connected to a network with a proxy server
>  that returns html pages (like a web page requesting you to login) and
>  not package list files.   Those html files will get downloaded to
>  /var/lib/apt/lists/ and prevent someone from using a package manager
>  until the problem html pages are removed.
> 
>  TEST CASE:
>  1) Ensure /etc/apt/sources.list points to archive.ubuntu.com
>  2) Setup proxy server to block access to archive.ubuntu.com and return something like http://people.canonical.com/~brian/tmp/not-packages.html
>  3) Execute 'sudo apt-get update' in a terminal
>  4) Observe the following:
>  'E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
>   E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_natty_main_binary-amd64_Packages
>   E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.'
>  5) Try 'apt-cache policy apt' and be sad that it doesn't work
>  6) run 'sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/*Packages' to clear the error.
> 
>  With the proposed package installed repeat steps 1 to 3.
>  4) Observe the following:
>  ''Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric InRelease [189 B]
>  Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric InRelease
>  E: GPG error: http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric InRelease: The following signatures were invalid: NODATA 1 NODATA 2'
>  5) Try 'apt-cache policy apt' and be happy that it works
> 
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/+bug/346386/+subscriptions

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/346386

Title:
  [MASTER] Update fails with invalid package files with "Encountered a
  section with no Package: header"

Status in “apt” package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in “apt” source package in Natty:
  Fix Committed
Status in “apt” package in Debian:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: adept-updater

  Pertinent data printed when attempting to run Updater as follows:

  An unresolvable problem occurred while initializing the package
  information.

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

  'E:Encountered a section with no Package: header, E:Problem with
  MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu
  .com_ubuntu_dists_intrepid_universe_binary-amd64_Packages, E:The
  package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.'

  WORKAROUND:
  Remove problematic files from /var/lib/apt/lists/ and rerun apt-get update.

  In the event that one is connected to a network with a proxy server
  that returns html pages (like a web page requesting you to login) and
  not package list files.   Those html files will get downloaded to
  /var/lib/apt/lists/ and prevent someone from using a package manager
  until the problem html pages are removed.

  TEST CASE:
  1) Ensure /etc/apt/sources.list points to archive.ubuntu.com
  2) Setup proxy server to block access to archive.ubuntu.com and return something like http://people.canonical.com/~brian/tmp/not-packages.html
  3) Execute 'sudo apt-get update' in a terminal
  4) Observe the following:
  'E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
   E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_natty_main_binary-amd64_Packages
   E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.'
  5) Try 'apt-cache policy apt' and be sad that it doesn't work
  6) run 'sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/*Packages' to clear the error.

  With the proposed package installed repeat steps 1 to 3.
  4) Observe the following:
  ''Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric InRelease [189 B]
  Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric InRelease
  E: GPG error: http://archive.ubuntu.com oneiric InRelease: The following signatures were invalid: NODATA 1 NODATA 2'
  5) Try 'apt-cache policy apt' and be happy that it works

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