Re: [ ERR] Reading package lists - E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
I have a similar error, though mine is from lenny. I've done as
suggested by Marlon:
# find /var/lib/apt/lists/ -type f \( ! -iname "lock" \) -exec rm -f {} \;
.. and put the following in sources.list:
deb http://ftp.au.debian.org/debian lenny main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org lenny/updates main contrib non-free
# aptitude update
[ looks good, until .. ]
Get:9 http://ftp.au.debian.org lenny/contrib Packages [94.3kB]
Get:10 http://ftp.au.debian.org lenny/non-free Packages [124kB]
Fetched 7697kB in 6s
(1197kB/s) Reading package lists... Error!
E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList
/var/lib/apt/lists/security.debian.org_dists_lenny_updates_main_binary-i386_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
E: Couldn't rebuild package cache ..
I've bypassed our local debcache and tried other mirrors. The only
thing I found that stops this error is removing the deb ..
security.debian.org line. Don't like to update like that, and iirc
there aren't alternative mirrors for security.debian.org.
If you look at the sndfile-programs package description in
http://security.debian.org/dists/lenny/updates/main/binary-i386/Packages.gz
it is followed by the lines below, which are different to the layout
of the rest of the file, and do seem to fit the error message.
None
None
None
I'm going to wait a few days before updating again. If there is
something wrong with this package description, I don't think I'll be
the only one affected. I'd love to hear better ideas.
--
Pete in SA
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