synaptic pkg manager responds with AN ERROR OCURRED
 

synaptic pkg manager responds with AN ERROR OCURRED. and then follows on with the following instuctions. No idea how to execute this comand


E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem.
E: _cache->open() failed, please report.

I have had the same problem in the past. What you do is run the suggested command on the command line as root or sudo. The command will rebuild a broken dpkg data base.

dpkg --configure -a

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Steve Stites

Do you use *buntu or Debian?Open a terminal and input: Otherwise log in as Root open a terminal and input:

thank you steve, i'm a complete iliterate when it comes to this. what exactly is the command line, how do i get there

does ubuntu 8.04 tell you anything

The command line is a program where you type in commands instead of clicking on icons with a mouse. You get to the command line by clicking on a desktop icon or a menu entry. I don't know exactly what Ubuntu calls the command line program. It may be "terminal", "konsole", "gnome terminal", or something similar.

In Ubunto you use sudo to get root access so the command will be:

sudo dpkg --configure -a

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Steve Stites

hi steve,

was out of the office yesterday today i found the terminal entrance and inputted the command but received the following answer dpkg: requested operation requires superuser privilege


i tried typing in my password but to no avail. i typed in the command with sudo and it worked now i have the following prompts

-E|--skip-same-version Skip packages whose same version is installed.
-G|--refuse-downgrade Skip packages with earlier version than installed.
-B|--auto-deconfigure Install even if it would break some other package.
[--no-]triggers Skip or force consequential trigger processing.
--no-debsig Do not try to verify package signatures.
--no-act|--dry-run|--simulate
Just say what we would do - don't do it.
-D|--debug=<octal> Enable debugging (see -Dhelp or --debug=help).
--status-fd <n> Send status change updates to file descriptor <n>.
--log=<filename> Log status changes and actions to <filename>.
--ignore-depends=<package>,...
Ignore dependencies involving <package>.
--force-... Override problems (see --force-help).
--no-force-...|--refuse-...
Stop when problems encountered.
--abort-after <n> Abort after encountering <n> errors.

Comparison operators for --compare-versions are:
lt le eq ne ge gt (treat empty version as earlier than any version);
lt-nl le-nl ge-nl gt-nl (treat empty version as later than any version);
< << <= = >= >> > (only for compatibility with control file syntax).

Use `dselect' or `aptitude' for user-friendly package management.
claudio@claudio-dell:~$

If the configure command worked then you should be able to go into synaptic and do whatever you were trying to do when the problem arose.

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Steve Stites

thank you very much for your help. finally got this working and learnt something along the way