Software Manager nor Synaptic won't start up
Hi All, Running a Mint Qiana 32bit MATE system. For the last month or two... Starting Software Manager gives no apparent response, as if nothing had happened. Starting Synaptic only gives the following error messages (and Synaptic won't run): *****
An error occurred The following details are provided:
E: Encountered a section with no Package: header E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/ppa.launchpad.net_danielrichter2007_grub-customizer_ubuntu_dists_trusty_main_i18n_Translation-en E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened. E: _cache->open() failed, please report.
Can anyone give a basic explanation of what's happened, and/or a step-by-step on how I can fix it? My Mint Qiana 64bit MATE system has (as far as I know) exactly the same programs, repositories, etc. and doesn't have this problem. Thanks very much in advance. Carl Turney
2015-06-11 15:18 GMT+02:00 Carl Turney <carl@boms.com.au>:
Starting Synaptic only gives the following error messages (and Synaptic won't run): *****
An error occurred The following details are provided:
E: Encountered a section with no Package: header E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/ppa.launchpad.net_danielrichter2007_grub-customizer_ubuntu_dists_trusty_main_i18n_Translation-en E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened. E: _cache->open() failed, please report.
*****
t looks like the package list is corrupted. Try to update it from command line:
sudo apt-get update
-- Mick
Hi Michele, Thanks very much for the hint. Unfortunately, when I ran apt-get update, it comes up with the following (I'm paraphrasing)... ***** Reading package lists... Error! W: GPG error: ppa.launchpad.net The following signatures were invalid... BADSIG ... Launchpad PPA for Daniel Richter E: Encountered a section with no Package: header E: Problem with mergelist ... ***** So, with a bit of searching, I found this web page ... http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1978554 ... then followed these instructions ... sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/* -vf sudo apt-get update ... and got an error-free result. Now both Software Manager and Synaptic start up OK. However: I'm pretty sure the only thing I use from Daniel Richter is grub-customizer. And that program appears as installed in both Software Manager and Synaptic. Just wondering, if anyone knows, whether any updates for my grub-customizer will continue to be detected and installed in the future? Or is it now "orphaned"... in an updating sense of the word? Carl On 11/06/15 23:53, Michele Bert wrote:
2015-06-11 15:18 GMT+02:00 Carl Turney <carl@boms.com.au>:
Starting Synaptic only gives the following error messages (and Synaptic won't run): *****
An error occurred The following details are provided:
E: Encountered a section with no Package: header E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/ppa.launchpad.net_danielrichter2007_grub-customizer_ubuntu_dists_trusty_main_i18n_Translation-en E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened. E: _cache->open() failed, please report.
*****
t looks like the package list is corrupted. Try to update it from command line:
sudo apt-get update
Carl Turney <carl@boms.com.au> writes:
I'm pretty sure the only thing I use from Daniel Richter is grub-customizer. And that program appears as installed in both Software Manager and Synaptic.
Just wondering, if anyone knows, whether any updates for my grub-customizer will continue to be detected and installed in the future? Or is it now "orphaned"... in an updating sense of the word?
You want to look at "apt-cache policy". The numbers are explained in apt-preferences(5) manpage. (I don't understand it properly myself.) If you're quacking for details, try keyword "pinning". This only applies if someone actually packages new versions & uploads them to the apt repos you're using. Whether that will happen in a PPA is up to the PPA owner. Whether that will happen in an official Ubuntu repo depends on the presence of e.g. "Supported: 6mo" field in "apt-cache show foo" (for security updates) and <I don't know> for -backports &c repos.
Hi, Thanks Trent. More learning curve. Doesn't it ever stop? :-) Carl On 12/06/15 11:40, Trent W. Buck wrote:
Carl Turney <carl@boms.com.au> writes:
I'm pretty sure the only thing I use from Daniel Richter is grub-customizer. And that program appears as installed in both Software Manager and Synaptic.
Just wondering, if anyone knows, whether any updates for my grub-customizer will continue to be detected and installed in the future? Or is it now "orphaned"... in an updating sense of the word?
You want to look at "apt-cache policy". The numbers are explained in apt-preferences(5) manpage. (I don't understand it properly myself.) If you're quacking for details, try keyword "pinning".
This only applies if someone actually packages new versions & uploads them to the apt repos you're using.
Whether that will happen in a PPA is up to the PPA owner.
Whether that will happen in an official Ubuntu repo depends on the presence of e.g. "Supported: 6mo" field in "apt-cache show foo" (for security updates) and <I don't know> for -backports &c repos.
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Carl Turney -
Michele Bert -
trentbuck＠gmail.com