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Package manager Error: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened

I'm running Stretch and 6 days ago I had trouble in Synaptic using the Reload function.
I tried a few times thinking I had a connection problem but now:-
Synaptic gives me the following error message and when I close the error message box Synaptic closes.

E: Encountered a section with no Package:header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.iinet.net.au_debian_debian_dists_stretch_main_binary-amd64_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
E: _cache->open() failed. please report.

I've tried apt-get clean and apt-get update without any improvement.

Can I delete the file named in the error message or replace it with an empty file? Or would changing mirrors do anything useful?

Sources list minus commented out CD lines is

deb http://ftp.iinet.net.au/debian/debian/ stretch main contrib non-free

deb http://security.debian.org/ stretch/updates main contrib
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ stretch/updates contrib main

I have been using and updating the box for a few months and haven't changed the sources but maybe I should.
The mirror I'm using gives me free data for Debian.

You could try deleting /var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.iinet.net.au_debian_debian_dists_stretch_main_binary-amd64_Packages. It should just re-download the Packages list. I've never done this, though, so I can't be sure of all the risks involved.

Thanks

I have considered doing that and maybe which ever other ones as necessary if it barfed on the first one and didn't check the rest.
I don't really want to make things worse because a re-install over my SLOW connection is a pain and it takes forever to get the links etc all set up again.

You should be able to delete the file with no adverse affects. Just your next apt-get update will be SLOW (since it's downloading everything new).

Have you ever considered trying the debian redirector to see if you got a faster connection? Not sure how slow the actual connection is, but MIGHT help some.

I'll try it later when my wife is not using teh connection

My connection is slow between my modem and the exchange. Nothing I can do except wait until the NBN in Australia gets it's act together and starts work in this area.

Thanks to Tim.
Had to progressively cycle through about 8 deletes.

Stretch on a NUC5CPYH

Hi I tried to update using sudo apt-get update command but am getting some messages like
[ ERR]: Reading package lists
E: Encountered a section with no Package:header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.iinet.net.au_debian_debian_dists_wheezy-updates_main_il8n_Translation-en.gz
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
Please send me the solution

Code:

#! /bin/sh



ubuntu-support-status

sudo grep -R proxy /etc/apt/*

grep proxy  /etc/environment

echo $http_proxy

echo $ftp_proxy

grep proxy /etc/bash.bashrc

grep proxy ~/.bashrc

cat /etc/apt/apt.conf

sudo fuser -vvv /var/lib/dpkg/lock

sudo fuser -vvv /var/cache/apt/archives/lock

cat /etc/lsb-release

uname -a

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/lock 

sudo rm  /var/cache/apt/archives/lock

sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock

sudo cp -arf /var/lib/dpkg /var/lib/dpkg.backup

sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/status /var/lib/dpkg/status-bad

sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/status-old /var/lib/dpkg/status  ||  sudo cp /var/backups/apt.extended_states.0 /var/lib/dpkg/status

sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/available /var/lib/dpkg/available-bad

sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/available-old /var/lib/dpkg/available

sudo rm -rf /var/lib/dpkg/updates/*

sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists

sudo rm /var/cache/apt/*.bin

sudo mkdir /var/lib/apt/lists

sudo mkdir /var/lib/apt/lists/partial

sudo apt-get clean

sudo apt-get autoclean

sudo apt-get --purge autoremove

sudo apt-get --fix-missing update -o APT::Cache-Limit=100000000

sudo dpkg --configure -a

sudo dpkg --clear-avail

sudo apt-get -f install

sudo apt-get --fix-missing install

sudo apt-get update -o APT::Cache-Limit=100000000 && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

find /etc/apt -name '*.list' -exec bash -c 'echo -e "\n$1\n"; cat -n "$1"' _ '{}' \;

Found this on ask ubuntu which worked for me and resets everything. Just paste it as a shell program.

Cheers!