Software index is broken; the culprit seem to be Adobe flashplugin

Question

First of all, I am abit intimidated by some of the patronising laguage that techies use on this site, so be kind.

When I try to Install Updates on my machine I get a message box headlined

Software index is broken followed by the subtext

it is impossible to install or remove any software. Please use the package manager "Synaptic" or run "sudo apt-get install f" in a terminal to fix this issue at first.

I have tried that and it doesn't help. The diagnostics suggest that the problem is with adobe-flashplugin. However, no matter what I do allows me to get rid of it. I looked on this site where it was suggested that I run a more specific sudo apt-get remove for adobe-flashplugin. This runs but does not remove the package.

I am now baffled, I cannot update my system because of it. Can anyone help?

Answer 1

There is a procedure in the Ubuntu documentation that will clear your "status" of dpkg, which is a low-level installer used by apt and apt-get. It may take a while, and while it is deleting things if you look at the commands, it is only deleting semi-temporary files that will soon be recreated if not unnecessary. It will not touch your personal files(home folder) or remove any programs. If the last command fails, try

LANG=C;sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

in place of it.

Answer 2

Try the following:

1. Open a terminal window - ctrl-alt-t.

2. Type or copy/paste sudo apt-get install -f and hit Enter

3. Type your user password and hit Enter

Hope that solves the problem.