Re: unable to apt-get an older system

[Camaleón <noelamac@gmail.com>]

On Tue, 10 May 2011 08:50:01 -0700, Jim Pazarena wrote:

> I have a debian based appliance which is running 2.6.16.62, I am unsure
> how to determine debian version.

Try with "lsb_release -a"

> I need to add wput (apt-get install wput) however first I need to run
> apt-get update which fails at:
> 
> Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org stable/contrib Release 

Hum... "stable" now points to squeeze (the "current" stable).

> Reading Package Lists... Error!
> E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.us.debian.org_debian_dists_stable_main_binary-i386_Packages
> (1) E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

Maybe the mentioned file has been corrupted somehow :-?

> Is there a way around this? Other than a full update, which isn't
> possible because the appliance runs a canned program which would likely
> choke on a full upgrade.

I would also check the repos listed at the "/etc/apt/sources.list" file 
and update the URLs as/if needed. And remember that you can also fetch 
the file directly from the server:

http://packages.debian.org/squeeze/wput

Just be sure the squeeze version applies for your system and you are not 
getting any dependency issue.

Greetings,

-- 
Camaleón