Re: dpkg parse error
On Wed, 25 Jun 1997, David S. Zelinsky wrote:
> A couple of months ago I got a CD from IConnect, with Debian 1.2. I recently
> got around to trying to upgrade (from Debian 1.1), using dselect. When I
> tried to Install, I dselect crashed with an error message like:
>
> dpkg: parse error, in file `/var/lib/dpkg/available'
> near line 14530 package `cdda2wav': empty value for version
>
> Now whenever I try to do anything with dselect or dpkg, it gives me this error.
>
> I thought there might be something wrong with the Packages file on the CD, so
> I tried the ftp method, directly from ftp.debian.org. The result was the same
> (but the package name it complained about had changed -- the one above is
> actually this latest error).
>
> How can I fix this? And prevent it from happening again? It's getting me
> very depressed -- and conteplating switching to RedHat! Any help would be
> appreciated.
First, you need to executed 'dpkg --clear-avail'. This will fix the
problem with the available file.
Next install several packages by hand...
dpkg -i ldso<version>.deb
dpkg -i libc5<version>.deb
dpkg -i dpkg<version>.deb
You can then run dselect, or continue to upgrade by hand. When you run
dselect, after choosing an access method, be sure to choose Update, so
that the available file gets reloaded with the correct stuff.
>
>
> Another question in a similar vein: Is there any documentation for dpkg and
> dselect, that explains what they actually do, and how all the various files in
> in /var/lib/dpkg and /usr/lib/dpkg are used? This mysterious
> behind-the-scenes operation is what really irks me about the MSWindows world,
> and it pains me to see anything resembling it in Linux. I know I can always
> look at the source code, but that's rather different from documentation. For
> my current problem, I might be courageous enough to try to fix the
> /var/lib/dpkg/available file, if I had some guidance as to how it is used (and
> where it came from), and what I could screw up by tinkering with it. At least
> I might be able to see where the problem occurred.
>
I can be of only minimal help here. The files in /var/lib/dpkg are
informative. In particular the status file and the available file. Be
careful here and don't change anything, just look.
Also look at /usr/doc/dpkg/{policy.html, programmer.html}. Although they
are centered around package practices, there is some discussion about dpkg
internals.
Dselect is basically an editor for the status file (through the selection
interface) and a front end for dpkg. Dpkg uses the status file and the
available file to traverse the archive and install packages, when directed
to do so by dselect. Dpkg can also be used from the command line to do
individual package installation as well as other package management
functions. See 'dpkg --help |less' for the various options.
Luck,
Dwarf
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