Bug#400768: apt: Returns "E: Wow, you exceeded the number of versions this APT is capable of"

[Jens Seidel <jensseidel@users.sf.net>]

On Tue, Nov 28, 2006 at 05:19:45PM +0100, Tom Parker wrote:
> Using my current /etc/apt/sources.list gets the error messages 
> 
> <misc apt stuff>
> Reading package lists... Error!
> E: Wow, you exceeded the number of versions this APT is capable of.
> E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/dpkg/status
> E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
> 
> Commenting out the "edgy" line or the "security" line (or probably
> various others) removes the problem.

I got a similar error which resulted in a crash in aptitude (see last
message to #383474):

E: Dynamic MMap ran out of room
E: Error occurred while processing libebook8 (NewVersion1)
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/dpkg/status
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

Adding APT::Cache-Limit "141943904"; to /etc/apt/apt.conf fixes it but
it is not obvious ...

Jens