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I need to update serveral remote ubuntu servers running 6.06 (even LTS isn't that long). They are all at different remote locations. I would like to at least have a shot at upgrading without the trips, but (apparently) the sources are not available.

For example:

Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/dapper-updates/main/binary-i386/Packages.gz  404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.181 80]

This site suggested changing sources.list. It fails 

E: Dynamic MMap ran out of room
E: Error occurred while processing brother-lpr-drivers-bh7 (NewVersion1)
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_pre cise_multiverse_binary-i386_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

Suggestions?

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  • Since others have covered the apt issues adequately, here's my two cents on your grand upgrade plan: don't do it. Yes, in theory you can do an LTS chain-upgrade, i.e. 6.06-->8.04-->10.04-->12.04 (even remotely!) In practice, even if you were to do it in person, it's going to be a LOT more complicated than simply running do-release-upgrade, waiting, and running it again. You will most probably run into multiple issues at each step that will take time to resolve before you can move on to upgrading to the next LTS in your chain. Unless your time is worth (almost) nothing, you are probably b
    – ish
    Jul 9, 2012 at 0:23
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    While I admit my answer may have prompted this question's closure, on reflection I don't think this is a duplicate of How do I fix a “Problem with MergeList” error when trying to do an update?. This appears to be a related but different issue, as explained quite well in Gilles's excellent answer. I suggest that this be reopened (then that answer will presumably be accepted).
    – Eliah Kagan
    Jul 9, 2012 at 14:59

2 Answers 2

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This error is due to memory management limitations in older versions of APT. Edit /etc/apt/apt.conf to increase the memory size limit to get over this hurdle:

APT::Cache-Limit "16777216";

Try apt-get update again. If it still fails, increase the number until it works.

If you had enabled nonofficial software sources, disable them (comment them out in /etc/apt/sources.list.

Furthermore, you seem to be trying to upgrade directly from 6.06 to 12.04. This is not supported, and skipping so many versions is likely to cause trouble. No one tried this or made any effort to make it work. You should upgrade piecewise: from 6.06 to 8.04 (the next LTS), then to 10.04, then to 12.04. You might stick to 10.04 which will still be supported for some time (aren't you going to decommission this hardware which is presumably going on 6 years old?).

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The error E: Dynamic MMap ran out of room is a little different from the more common MergeList errors, but it's still worth trying the standard approach to fix it:

First remove the Merge List by opening a terminal (Hit Ctrl-Alt-T to launch) and running this command

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/* -vf

Next generate a new one by running a simple update 

sudo apt-get update

Source: Answer to How do I fix a "Problem with MergeList" or "status file could not be parsed" error when trying to do an update? by Allan.

If that doesn't work, please provide feedback about whether or not anything is different.

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