[ubuntu-za] ubuntu-za Digest, Vol 108, Issue 7

Tue Sep 16 07:24:42 UTC 2014

Hello all, I saw the following advise which might help?

Fixing Update Errors in Ubuntu 14.04

Who hasn't come across an error while doing an update in Ubuntu? Update
errors are common and plenty in Ubuntu and other Linux distributions based
on Ubuntu. These errors occur for various reasons and can be fixed easily.
In this article, we shall see various types of frequently occurring update
errors in Ubuntu and how to fix them.
Problem With MergeList

When you run update in terminal, you may encounter an error "problem with
MergeList" like below:

    E:Encountered a section with no Package: header,
    E:Problem with MergeList
/var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise_universe_binary-i
386_Packages,
    E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.'

To fix this error, use the following commands:

sudo rm -r /var/lib/apt/lists/*
sudo apt-get clean && sudo apt-get update

Failed to download repository information -1

There are actually two types of failed to download repository information
errors. If your error read like this:

    W:Failed to fetch
bzip2:/var/lib/apt/lists/partial/in.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_oneiric_
restricted_binary-i386_Packages Hash Sum mismatch,
    W:Failed to fetch
bzip2:/var/lib/apt/lists/partial/in.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_oneiric_
multiverse_binary-i386_Packages Hash Sum mismatch,
    E:Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old
ones used instead

Then you can use the following commands to fix it:

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

Failed to download repository information -2

Th other type of failed to download repository information error is because
of outdated PPA. Usually, when you run Update Manager and see an error like
this:

Failed to download repository information Ubuntu 13.04

You can run sudo apt-get update to see what PPAs are failing. And you can
remove it from the sources list. You can follow this screenshot guide to fix
failed to download repository information error.
Failed to download package files error

A similar error is failed to download package files error like this:

failed to download package files error in Ubuntu 14.04

This can be easily fixed by changing the software sources to Main server. Go
to Software & Updates and in there changed the download server to Main
server:

error while downloading package files
Partial upgrade error

Running updates in terminal may throw this partial upgrade error:

    Not all updates can be installed
    Run a partial upgrade, to install as many updates as possible

Run the following command in terminal to fix this error:

sudo apt-get install -f

error while loading shared libraries

This is more of an installation error than update error. If you try to
install a program from source code, you may encounter this error:

    error while loading shared libraries:
    cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

This error can be fixed by running the following command in terminal:

sudo /sbin/ldconfig -v

You can find more details on this error while loading shared libraries.
Could not get lock /var/cache/apt/archives/lock

This error happens when another program is using APT. Suppose you are
installing some thing in Ubuntu Software Center and trying to run apt in
terminal.

    E: Could not get lock /var/cache/apt/archives/lock - open (11: Resource
temporarily unavailable)
    E: Unable to lock directory /var/cache/apt/archives/

Normally, this should be fine if you close all other programs using apt but
if the problem persists, use the following command:

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/lock

If the above command doesn't work, try this command:

sudo killall apt-get

More details about this error can be found here.
GPG error: The following signatures couldn't be verified

Adding a PPA may result in the following GPG error: The following signatures
couldn't be verified when you try to run an update in terminal:

    W: GPG error: http://repo.mate-desktop.org saucy InRelease: The
following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not
available: NO_PUBKEY 68980A0EA10B4DE8

All we need to do is to fetch this public key in the system. Get the key
number from the message. In the above message, the key is 68980A0EA10B4DE8.
This key can be used in the following manner:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys
68980A0EA10B4DE8

Once the key has been added, run an update again and it will be fine.
BADSIG error

Another signature related Ubuntu update error is BADSIG error which looks
something like this:

    W: A error occurred during the signature verification. The repository is
not updated and the previous index files will be used. GPG error:
http://extras.ubuntu.com precise Release: The following signatures were
invalid: BADSIG 16126D3A3E5C1192 Ubuntu Extras Archive Automatic Signing Key

    W: GPG error: http://ppa.launchpad.net precise Release:

    The following signatures were invalid: BADSIG 4C1CBC1B69B0E2F4 Launchpad
PPA for Jonathan French W: Failed to fetch
http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/Release

To fix this BADSIG error, use the following commands in terminal:

sudo apt-get clean
cd /var/lib/apt
sudo mv lists oldlist
sudo mkdir -p lists/partial
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update

-----Original Message-----
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[mailto:ubuntu-za-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com] On Behalf Of
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Sent: 15 September 2014 14:00 
To: ubuntu-za at lists.ubuntu.com
Subject: ubuntu-za Digest, Vol 108, Issue 7

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Today's Topics:

   1.  Fwd: Ubuntu software and update centre (Jan Greeff)
   2. Re:  Fwd: Ubuntu software and update centre (Jaco Stroebel)
   3. Re:  Fwd: Ubuntu software and update centre (Jan Greeff)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 07:10:29 +0200
From: Jan Greeff <jan at verslank.net>
To: ubuntu South African Local Community <ubuntu-za at lists.ubuntu.com>
Subject: [ubuntu-za] Fwd: Ubuntu software and update centre
Message-ID: <541674C5.7040008 at verslank.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"; Format="flowed"

Hi all, is this a silly question or is there another reason why nobody is
prepared to reply?

My system is now doing partial upgrades, apparently there is already a
problem somewhere with packages.

Kind regards,

Jan