Michael Graham wrote:
/var/lib/dpkg/available (as the path implies) is used by dpkg (and dselect), not by apt. It is only updated when you run 'dselect update' or [U]pdate in dselect, and modified by dpkg when you install/remove packages.So running 'dselect update' should correct this file. But might need to remove the old corrupted one first.
Thanks Michael - That now works after running dselect.