Bug#366788: apt: Refuses to accept older pre-existing package repositories that worked perfectly under immediate previous versions.

[Barrie Millar <solar@frondeg.co.uk>]

Hi

I've recently had another chance to look at this bug to see if I can
determine what the problem is. After some troubleshooting which included
re-generating Packages.gz files, removing items from sources.list
and fiddling around with the Release files in some of the repositories,
I noticed a strange pattern in the results. Those generated under
an installed copy of Woody no longer worked, but those generated under
Sarge worked perfectly. 

I found this too suspicious for words, but changing the release from
Woody to Sarge in the "Release" files made no difference at all.
However, after comparing a version of the Release file in newer
repositories with those previously created, I found that there was an
extra newline at the end of the newer versions. Adding a newline to the
end of the older ones solved the problem. 

I still think this has to be included as a bug for a couple of
reasons. Firstly, the error messages did not clearly define the cause of
Apt's difficulties in processing those repositories. Although it might
seem more obvious now, it's clear from this bug itself that I wasn't the
only one fooled by the potential origins of the problem. Secondly, this
problem has only started appearing after version 0.6.43.3 of Apt. This
version and those before it work perfectly and therefore I see no
reason why future ones also shouldn't. It seems a little crazy that Apt
will no longer support older repositories simply because they have a
newline missing at the end of the Release file. 

Thanks

Regards,

Barrie