apt-get error

newbiesforever · 01-08-2010, 11:26 AM

Something happened to my apt-get one of the last times I used it, and it (and its frontends kpackage and synaptic) don't work anymore. When I run Synaptic, it immediately says this, and then crashes.

Quote:

E: Dynamic MMap ran out of room. Please increase the size of APT::Cache-Limit. Current value: 20000000. (man 5 apt.conf)
E: Error occurred while processing znc-dev (NewVersion1)
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/www.backports.org_debian_dists_lenny-backports_main_binary-i386_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
E: _cache->open() failed, please report.

I don't remember exactly what I did with the settings last time, but I think I just turned one (or more) or the repositories (probably Debian Sid--I think I was looking for something there) on or off. But in this state, apt-get is unusable.

Now I just discovered another strange thing: Synaptic crashed, but I can't start it again because of this message:

Quote:

Unable to get exclusive lock

This usually means that another package management application (like apt-get or aptitude) is already running. Please close that application first.

I went into the process table and tried to kill the old instance of Synaptic, but it says I have insufficient permissions.

repo · 01-08-2010, 11:30 AM

Quote:

I went into the process table and tried to kill the old instance of Synaptic, but it says I have insufficient permissions.

A root or use sudo, in a terminal type

Code:

ps ax | grep synaptic
kill -9 <pid number>

newbiesforever · 01-08-2010, 12:55 PM

Well, my problem is partly solved. The error message indicates that it has something to do with my having the Debian Lenny backports repository in my repositories list, so I removed that entry. That is unfortunate, because lenny-backports has been useful. But it's given me trouble before: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ic-key-774053/

repo · 01-08-2010, 01:01 PM

Quote:

E: Dynamic MMap ran out of room. Please increase the size of APT::Cache-Limit. Current value: 20000000. (man 5 apt.conf)

Did you fixed this error ?

craigevil · 01-08-2010, 01:01 PM

Getting "E: Dynamic MMap ran out of room" when using apt-get or aptitude? Put the following line into your /etc/apt/apt.conf: APT::Cache-Limit "12582912"; If that file doesn't exist, create it, or put the line in a file in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/ If you still get the same error, increase the value. Alternatively, delete entries within /etc/apt/sources.list that you don't actually need.

How many repos do you have in your sources.list?

Just having stable, security, backports, volatile, and even debian-multimedia.org should be fine.

craigevil · 01-08-2010, 01:03 PM

Getting "E: Dynamic MMap ran out of room" when using apt-get or aptitude? Put the following line into your /etc/apt/apt.conf: APT::Cache-Limit "12582912"; If that file doesn't exist, create it, or put the line in a file in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/ If you still get the same error, increase the value. Alternatively, delete entries within /etc/apt/sources.list that you don't actually need.

How many repos do you have in your sources.list?

Just having stable, security, backports, volatile, and even debian-multimedia.org should be fine.

newbiesforever · 01-08-2010, 07:52 PM

I currently have seven repositories in my sources list. It says:

Quote:

# See sources.list(5) for more information

# This file should be edited through synaptic

# MEPIS improvements, overrides and updates--the MEPIS magic
deb ftp://ftp.mepis.com/mepis/ mepis-8.0 main

deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free
deb-src ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free

deb http://security.debian.org/ lenny/updates main contrib non-free

deb http://volatile.debian.org/debian-volatile/ lenny/volatile main contrib non-free

# Some Debian Multimedia software might be illegal in some jurisdictions
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org/ lenny main

deb http://www.backports.org/debian/ lenny-backports main

The Lenny backports repo is now there because, since I understand that the problem seems to be too many repositories, I deleted the Sid repo so I would have room for lenny-backports.

I am thoroughly puzzled by this problem, because it started only a few days ago. I used to have nine repositories without a problem. I never had to edit any apt.conf files.

evo2 · 01-08-2010, 08:01 PM

Any reason why you have both debian and mepis sources?

Is this actually a mepis install or a Debian install?

If a mepis install, does mepis recommend to include the Debian sources?

If a Debian install I strongly recommend not to use mepis packages.

Evo2.

newbiesforever · 01-08-2010, 08:57 PM

It's MEPIS 8. The MEPIS designers must have decided to offer both, because those (excepting the sid and lenny-backports repos) are what MEPIS comes with at installation. However, I chose to activate all of them; I think the Debian repos were off.

repo · 01-09-2010, 03:01 AM

Quote:

E: Dynamic MMap ran out of room. Please increase the size of APT::Cache-Limit. Current value: 20000000. (man 5 apt.conf)

But did you tried to solve this errormessage?

newbiesforever · 01-09-2010, 11:14 AM

Yes, but I haven't tried to modify the files Craig specified yet. My successful temporary solution is to not have all the repos activated at once.

newbiesforever · 01-11-2010, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigevil

Getting "E: Dynamic MMap ran out of room" when using apt-get or aptitude? Put the following line into your /etc/apt/apt.conf: APT::Cache-Limit "12582912"; If that file doesn't exist, create it, or put the line in a file in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/ If you still get the same error, increase the value. Alternatively, delete entries within /etc/apt/sources.list that you don't actually need.

How many repos do you have in your sources.list?

Just having stable, security, backports, volatile, and even debian-multimedia.org should be fine.

For some reason, the number you specified didn't eliminate the error. I guess I'll increase it.

EDIT: It worked after I changed the nmber to 33333333. I picked a number, because you didn't explain the significance of 12582912.

repo · 01-11-2010, 12:50 PM

Quote:

EDIT: It worked after I changed the nmber to 33333333. I picked a number, because you didn't explain the significance of 12582912.

Code:

Please increase the size of APT::Cache-Limit. Current value: 20000000. (man 5 apt.conf)

so
33333333 is > then 20000000