apt-get error

duffmckagan · 02-18-2007, 02:56 AM

I get the following error whenever i try to do anything with apt-get:

Code:

copperskull:~# apt-get install gnome
Reading package lists... Error!
E: Could not open file /var/lib/dpkg/status - open (2 No such file or directory)
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

And then when I do a dpkg-reconfigure apt-get, I get the following output.

Code:

copperskull:~# dpkg-reconfigure apt-get
dpkg-query: failed to open package info file `/var/lib/dpkg/status' for reading: No such file or directory
/usr/sbin/dpkg-reconfigure: apt-get is not installed

I don't remember doing anything to screw up my system like this.

Anybody got a lead on it?

Simon Bridge · 02-18-2007, 03:20 AM

Quote:

Could not open file /var/lib/dpkg/status

... well is the file there?

Quote:

Anybody got a lead on it?

Did you try searching LQ? http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...255#post805255

Perhaps:
# cp /var/lib/dpkg/status-old /var/lib/dpkg/status
# apt-get update

Caveat: check the filesystem - there is a reason this file became corrupt. If you are very unlucky, your HDD is starting to go.

duffmckagan · 02-18-2007, 04:11 AM

Yeah..thanks for the input.

I tried to search LQ for this very error..but wasn't lucky. Well...finally I got the exact stuff I wanted.

I created a new file with the following contents:

File: /var/lib/dpkg/status

Code:

Package: libc6
Status: install ok installed
Version: 2.3.1-9
EOF

Now everything runs fine.

BTW, I am running Debian Etch. So do you think this particular file has got the right contents?

Well..I was surprised but there wasn't no backup of this file present.
I guess this file got corrupt after I did a fsck.reiserfs --rebuild-tree on my root partition. (Of course after a system crash..and the partition wasn't mounted.)

Daws · 02-18-2007, 04:40 AM

Quote:

Package: libc6
Status: install ok installed
Version: 2.3.1-9

Isn't that a bit old? Etch should be using 2.3.6.ds1-11. According to debian.org 2.3.1-9 is from sarge when it was in testing.

duffmckagan · 02-18-2007, 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daws

Isn't that a bit old? Etch should be using 2.3.6.ds1-11. According to debian.org 2.3.1-9 is from sarge when it was in testing.

Truly. Thats what I began to think after doing it.

After creating the new file as mentioned earlier..I thought this new setup is gonna work. I tried installing a software and everything was fine upto the point of downloading it. While installing, it gave me the same error.

I searched around a bit and noticed that a backup is stored in /var/backups/dpkg.status.*
I created a new /var/lib/dpkg/status file out of this backup, and now things are going good.

The following link was pretty useful:

http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/debianproblem.htm

Simon Bridge · 02-18-2007, 07:36 PM

why didn't you just restore statu-old?
[edit] silly me: didn't read the last post properly. Please disregard.