Is it possible to rebuild /var/lib/dpkg/status?

[Max.Hyre@cardiopulmonarycorp.com]

   Gentlefolk:

   I was almost through upgrading to Potato when my hard drive
decided to develop some flaky sectors.  Courtesy of Mr. Murphy,
they were on my /var partition, in /var/lib/dpkg/status* (the more
recent versions).

   I've rebuilt /var, mostly, on a different spindle (/var was the
only partition on the bad spindle):  I'd backed up /var before
starting the upgrade, and most of /var is readable, with a bit of
hassle.  It's just that I can't get .../status back, and dpkg
balks at not having it :-).

   Is there some way to rebuild the contents of `status' based on
what's on the system?  If so, how?  Is there some easier way out
of this fix?

   Thanks for any answers you my provide.


			Best wishes,

				Max Hyre