Bug#242803: Package: dselect

[Anthony Labarre <anthony.labarre@skynet.be>]

I just encountered the same problem, and I thought changing mirrors in 
/etc/apt/sources.list might help, so I ran netselect-apt unstable to 
find a new one; then I ran dselect to launch an update, and I had the 
following error:

# apt-get update
[... hits ...]
Reading Package Lists... Error!
E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList 
/var/lib/apt/lists/_var_cache_apt-build_repository_dists_apt-build_main_binary-i386_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

update available list script returned error exit status 1.
Press <enter> to continue.

Then I did this:

# mv 
/var/lib/apt/lists/_var_cache_apt-build_repository_dists_apt-build_main_binary-i386_Packages 
/var/lib/apt/lists/_var_cache_apt-build_repository_dists_apt-build_main_binary-i386_Packages-old
# dselect

... and now everything is back to normal. Still, it doesn't explain why 
it did not work before, but I hope this helps.

Anthony