How do I fix a “Problem with MergeList” or “status file could not be parsed” error when trying to do an update?

Question

The computer gave me this output in a window:

E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_natty_main_binary-i386_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

How can I fix this?

Answer 1

These terminal commands should solve your problem:

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

Here is the bug report (and another) for this problem, which is now fixed so it shouldn't create new malformed files, however if you already have the malformed files you need to remove them as explained in this post.

Answer 2

Open a Terminal and run the following commands one at a time:

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

See also:

• https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PackageManagerTroubleshootingProcedure

Answer 3

You screwed up when you edited /var/lib/dpkg/status. Restore it from the backup that you made before editing it. Of course, you made a backup, right?

Since you didn't make a backup, edit it again, carefully. Try not to cause more damage.

You can use /var/lib/dpkg/status.old as a reference point. This is a backup of the status file from before the last time dpkg was run. Run

diff /var/lib/dpkg/status.old /var/lib/dpkg/status

to see the differences. Undo the changes that you made manually, and keep the changes that were made by the last dpkg run.

If you really can't manage to repair the file, copy /var/lib/dpkg/status.old over /var/lib/dpkg/status. You will get a well-formed, but out-of-date package database.

You never need to edit /var/lib/dpkg/status in normal operation. Even whe things go seriously wrong, /var/lib/dpkg/status is not something that tends to require administrator intervention. Whatever your problems with crossplatformui were, there is probably a better way of solving them. The only time I've ever needed to edit /var/lib/dpkg/status was when an upstream Packages file was broken.

Answer 4

Following steps 2-4 in the Package Manager Troubleshooting Procedure usually solves this problem.

Answer 5

I have also seen this problem occur when you have too many sources in your repos.

Try the solution posted above and/or also perhaps this which is sometimes recommended on launchpad:

sudo mv /var/lib/apt/lists /var/lib/apt/lists-old
sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/apt/lists/partial
sudo apt-get update

Let us know how you get on.

Answer 6

I did

sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update

and it worked.