apt-get -> testing, errors processing package lists, Dynamic MMap???

gaffel · 07-15-2004, 04:16 PM

I must be missing a trick somewhere, but I would really appreciate some advice on this.

I am trying to upgrade my woody system to testing.

I am following the instructions from the Debian Reference (Chapter 5)

First off, I have set my apt sources as follows:

Code:

     # cd /etc/apt
     # cp -f sources.list sources.list.old
     # :>sources.list  
     # apt-setup noprobe

then have performed

Code:

     # apt-get update
     # apt-get -t stable upgrade
     # apt-get -t stable dist-upgrade

so far so good, all working. The installed packages from my CDs are now the latest version.

Then, I have added the testing sources to my apt list, using the following from Chap 5 Debian reference:

Code:

     # cd /etc/apt
     # grep -e "^deb " sources.list  >srcs
     # :>sources.list  
     # cp -f srcs sources.list
     # sed -e "s/stable/testing/" srcs >>sources.list
     # sed -e "s/stable/unstable/" srcs >>sources.list
     # apt-get update
     # apt-get install apt apt-utils

I get as far as #apt-get update. Once I have executed this command it finished with the following error:

Code:

Reading Package Lists... Error!
E: Dynamic MMap ran out of room
E: Dynamic MMap ran out of room
E: Error occured while processing python2.1-pgsql (NewVersion1)
E: Problem with MergeList 
/var/lib/apt/lists/debian.blueyonder.co.uk_dists_testing_main_binary_i386_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

Has anybody else had this problem? I have tried apt-get -f install.
Apt doesn't seem to have a problem getting the package lists, it just doesn't process them.
I am going to try shutting my system down and restarting, but do I really need to do that?

Again, any help greatly appreciated.

Dead Parrot · 07-15-2004, 04:50 PM

The apt-pinning howto http://jaqque.sbih.org/kplug/apt-pinning.html suggests that this problem can be solved by increasing the cache size in /etc/apt/apt.conf:

APT::Cache-Limit "8388608";

Hope this helps.

gaffel · 07-15-2004, 05:10 PM

Thanks

After restarting my machine I did a search on debian.org and got a similar answer. ( i know, i know, should have done that in the first place)

I will try this later and confirm it works. ( just need to find that apt.conf file, it isn't in the /etc/apt/ directory!!)

Dead Parrot · 07-15-2004, 05:33 PM

# cp /usr/share/doc/apt/examples/apt.conf /etc/apt

You might also want to check /usr/share/doc/apt/examples/configure-index.gz:

http://olympus.het.brown.edu/cgi-bin...igure-index.gz

gaffel · 07-16-2004, 10:33 AM

Thanks again.

Have used the example apt.conf and added in the cache-limit line.
Updated my sources and ran apt-get.
I (think) my system should now be at sarge. Still need to do a dist-upgrade, but it said that was 414 Mb, will do later when I am leaving the machine alone for a couple of hours!!

macondo · 07-16-2004, 01:30 PM

with your favorite editor change in /etc/apt/sources.list, the word 'stable' for 'testing', save and exit.

At the prompt, as root:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

voilá