sudo apt-get update error: E: Splitting of file /var/lib/apt/lists/si.archive.ubuntu.com

Question

Hit:1 http://si.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful InRelease
Hit:2 http:// si.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-updates InRelease             
Hit:3 http:// si.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-backports InRelease           
Hit:4 http:// download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian xenial InRelease        
Err:3 http:// si.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-backports InRelease           
  Splitting up /var/lib/apt/lists/si.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_artful-backports_InRelease into data and signature failed
Hit:5 https:// updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial InRelease           
Get:6 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security InRelease [78,6 kB]
Hit:7 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/main amd64 Packages
Ign:7 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/main amd64 Packages
Hit:8 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/main i386 Packages
Hit:9 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/main Translation-en
Hit:10 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata
Hit:11 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/main DEP-11 64x64 Icons
Hit:12 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/universe i386 Packages
Hit:13 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/universe amd64 Packages
Hit:14 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/universe Translation-en
Hit:15 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/universe amd64 DEP-11 Metadata
Hit:16 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/universe DEP-11 64x64 Icons
Hit:17 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/multiverse i386 Packages
Ign:8 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/main i386 Packages
Ign:9 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/main Translation-en
Ign:10 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata
Ign:12 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/universe i386 Packages
Ign:13 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/universe amd64 Packages
Ign:14 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/universe Translation-en
Ign:15 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/universe amd64 DEP-11 Metadata
Ign:17 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/multiverse i386 Packages
Hit:18 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/multiverse amd64 Packages
Hit:19 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/multiverse Translation-en
Ign:7 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/main amd64 Packages
Ign:18 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/multiverse amd64 Packages
Ign:19 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/multiverse Translation-en
Ign:8 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/main i386 Packages     
Ign:9 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/main Translation-en
Hit:10 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata
Ign:12 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/universe i386 Packages
Ign:10 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata
Ign:13 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/universe amd64 Packages
Ign:14 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/universe Translation-en
Hit:15 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/universe amd64 DEP-11 Metadata
Ign:17 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/multiverse i386 Packages
Ign:15 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/universe amd64 DEP-11 Metadata
Get:7 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/main amd64 Packages [72,5 kB]
Ign:18 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/multiverse amd64 Packages
Ign:19 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/multiverse Translation-en
Get:8 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/main i386 Packages [71,1 kB]
Get:9 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/main Translation-en [33,2 kB]
Get:12 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/universe i386 Packages [20,5 kB]
Hit:10 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata
Get:13 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/universe amd64 Packages [20,5 kB]
Ign:10 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata
Get:14 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/universe Translation-en [12,5 kB]
Get:17 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/multiverse i386 Packages [1257 B]
Hit:15 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/universe amd64 DEP-11 Metadata
Get:18 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/multiverse amd64 Packages [1075 B]
Get:19 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/multiverse Translation-en [644 B]
Ign:15 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/universe amd64 DEP-11 Metadata
Err:10 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata
  Empty files can't be valid archives
Ign:15 http:// security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security/universe amd64 DEP-11 Metadata
Fetched 78,6 kB in 2s (27,0 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Error!
W: An error occurred during the signature verification. The repository is not updated and the previous index files will be used. GPG error: http://si.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-backports InRelease: Splitting up /var/lib/apt/lists/si.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_artful-backports_InRelease into data and signature failed
W: Failed to fetch http://si.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/artful-backports/InRelease  Splitting up /var/lib/apt/lists/si.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_artful-backports_InRelease into data and signature failed
E: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/artful-security/main/dep11/Components-amd64.yml  Empty files can't be valid archives
W: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
E: Splitting of file /var/lib/apt/lists/si.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_artful-backports_InRelease failed as it doesn't contain all expected parts 0 1 0
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

This is what I'm seeing when I try to run sudo apt-get update. I didn't use computer for 1 month.

Answer 1

You can use

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

in order to remove all the lists and

sudo apt-get update

to download the lists again

Answer 2

This just happened on my system too, and the reason was my /tmp disk was full.

After removing some files from /tmp, apt-get update started working again.

I also added a bug report at Launchpad

Answer 3

Run the following commands:

sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update

Answer 4

You can also get this error if your /tmp directory is full.

Answer 5

I got this error as well when I ran apt update. After trying all the other recommendations listed here (such as deleting contents of /tmp). I happened to discover that the disk my OS was on was completely full:

I removed some unneeded data on the disk and was able to run apt update successfully. So, if all else fails, you can check this.

Answer 6

I had the same issue yesterday and was unable to run any apt commands, after reading the terminal error when running "sudo apt update" it said the problem was with the file "/var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_jammy_InRelease".

I took a look at the file and it turned out that the file must have gotten written over by ProtonVPN because the file contained html code for a warning page about using P2P traffic on a free server.

Im guessing when i had previously run "sudo apt update" it triggered ProtonVPN to think i was using P2P causing them to send a warning page to me and instead of it being shown in a browser it was then written to the "archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_jammy_InRelease" file.