Bug#366785: apt: Refuses to install packages with empty headers in the control file (Depends, Conflicts, etc)
Package: apt
Version: 0.6.44
Severity: normal
Hi
When downloading an unofficial Debian package and including it into a local
repository, I attempted to refresh the package list using "apt-get update". I
received this error at the end of the process.
Reading package lists... Error!
E: Problem parsing dependency Depends
E: Error occurred while processing checkinstall (NewVersion1)
E: Problem with MergeList
/var/lib/apt/lists/_home_deb-i386_current_unofficial-sid30_binary_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
After further investigation, it seems that "apt-get update" does not like
packages that contain blank control fields (such as Depends and Conflicts).
Removing the blank fields and re-building the package resolves the problem.
The errors received are definitely solely related to apt, as the original package can be
manually installed with dpkg without incident.
No official Debian packages have been seen with blank headers to date, and
homegrown custom packages can easily be modified to remove the irrelevant
headers. However, this bug is more of a problem as it may seem as it renders apt unable to
install many existing custom-made packages made by third-party authors.
Hopefully this information is helpful. Thanks
Regards,
Barrie
-- Package-specific info:
-- (no /etc/apt/preferences present) --
-- (/etc/apt/sources.list present, but not submitted) --
-- System Information:
Debian Release: testing/unstable
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.16-1-k7
Locale: LANG=en_GB, LC_CTYPE=en_GB (charmap=ISO-8859-1)
Versions of packages apt depends on:
ii libc6 2.3.6-7 GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii libgcc1 1:4.1.0-1+b1 GCC support library
ii libstdc++6 4.1.0-1+b1 The GNU Standard C++ Library v3
Versions of packages apt recommends:
ii debian-archive-keyring 2006.01.18 GnuPG archive keys of the Debian a
-- no debconf information
Reply to: