Re: apt-get not working anymore

[Goswin von Brederlow <goswin-v-b@web.de>]

Klaus Ethgen <Klaus@Ethgen.de> writes:

> Hi,
>
> maybe that is an issue for debian-user, so I put it in the To too
> although I am not subscribed there.
>
> If you look to Bug #497617 there is a long time bug in apt first only
> targeting the German translations but now it is independent of the
> locales.
>
> When I run any apt-get command I get the error:
>  E: Wow, you exceeded the number of versions this APT is capable of.
>  E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/debian.ethz.ch_mirror_debian_dists_experimental_main_binary-i386_Packages
>  E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
>
> (The second line is just the one which is the drop too much.)
>
> This also happen with all locales set to "C".
>
> The problem is that it is not possible anymore to update the system at
> all. I think that is a very critical bug.
>
> Is it really necessary to break all installations until this bug is
> fixed? It is known long enough for now.
>
> I have the version 0.7.20.2+lenny1 installed, so it seems to be the most
> recent version. (apt-cache doesn't work too so I can only view the web
> site)
>
> Regards
>    Klaus

% rmadison apt
       apt | 0.6.46.4-0.1 |     etch-m68k | source, m68k
       apt | 0.6.46.4-0.1 |     oldstable | source, alpha, amd64, arm, hppa, i386, ia64, mips, mipsel, powerpc, s390, sparc
       apt | 0.6.46.4-0.1+etch1 | oldstable-proposed-updates | source, alpha, amd64, arm, hppa, i386, ia64, mips, mipsel, powerpc, s390, sparc
       apt | 0.7.20.2+lenny1 |        stable | source, alpha, amd64, arm, armel, hppa, i386, ia64, mips, mipsel, powerpc, s390, sparc
       apt | 0.7.20.2+squeeze1 | testing-proposed-updates | source, alpha, amd64, armel, hppa, i386, ia64, mips, powerpc, s390, sparc
       apt |   0.7.22.2 |       testing | source, alpha, amd64, hppa, i386, kfreebsd-amd64, kfreebsd-i386, mips, mipsel, powerpc, s390, sparc
       apt | 0.7.22.2+b2 |       testing | armel, ia64
       apt |   0.7.23.1 |      unstable | source, alpha, amd64, armel, hppa, hurd-i386, i386, ia64, kfreebsd-amd64, kfreebsd-i386, mips, mipsel, powerpc, s390, sparc


Reduce your sources.list, possibly to just unstable main, apt-get update,
apt-get install apt, revert sources.list, enjoy.

MfG
        Goswin