08 February 2012

60. i18n_translation and no Package:Header error on Debian Testing 32 bit

I'm doing this via an apt-cache server (i.e. the 192.168.1.1 rather than ftp.au.debian.org) -- but the problem is unrelated to the apt-cache server.

Symptom:

Get:1 http://192.168.1.1 testing InRelease [179 kB]
Ign http://192.168.1.1 testing/contrib TranslationIndex
Get:2 http://192.168.1.1 testing/main TranslationIndex [2,154 B]
Ign http://192.168.1.1 testing/non-free TranslationIndex
Get:3 http://192.168.1.1 testing/main i386 Packages [7,146 kB]
Get:4 http://192.168.1.1 testing/contrib i386 Packages [48.9 kB]
Get:5 http://192.168.1.1 testing/non-free i386 Packages [87.5 kB]
Ign http://192.168.1.1 testing/contrib Translation-en_AU
Get:6 http://192.168.1.1 testing/contrib Translation-en [34.8 kB]
Get:7 http://192.168.1.1 testing/main Translation-en [3,722 kB]
Ign http://192.168.1.1 testing/non-free Translation-en_AU                                
Get:8 http://192.168.1.1 testing/non-free Translation-en [62.5 kB]
Fetched 11.3 MB in 2s (4,348 kB/s)                                                          
W: Failed to fetch copy:/var/lib/apt/lists/partial/192.168.1.1:3142_ftp.au.debian.org_debian_dists_testing_main_i18n_Translation-en  Encountered a section with no Package: header

E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

Reason:
ftp://ftp.au.debian.org/debian/dists/wheezy/main/i18n/
All the files in that directory are compressed (bz2) -- you need to enable apt-get to decompress .bz2 files.

Solution:
Install bzip2

sudo apt-get install bzip2

at this point gives

Reading package lists... Error!
E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/192.168.1.1:3142_ftp.au.debian.org_debian_dists_testing_contrib_i18n_Translation-en
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

So remove the offending files (2 lines):
sudo rm  /var/lib/apt/lists/192.168.1.1:3142_ftp.au.debian.org_debian_dists_testing_contrib_i18n_Translation-en
sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/192.168.1.1:3142_ftp.au.debian.org_debian_dists_testing_non-free_i18n_Translation-en

Now you can 

sudo apt-get install bzip2

followed by

sudo apt-get update
Hit http://192.168.1.1 testing InRelease
Get:1 http://192.168.1.1 testing/main i386 Packages/DiffIndex [2,038 B]
Get:2 http://192.168.1.1 testing/contrib i386 Packages/DiffIndex [2,023 B]
Get:3 http://192.168.1.1 testing/non-free i386 Packages/DiffIndex [2,023 B]
Ign http://192.168.1.1 testing/contrib TranslationIndex
Hit http://192.168.1.1 testing/main TranslationIndex
Ign http://192.168.1.1 testing/non-free TranslationIndex
Get:4 http://192.168.1.1 testing/contrib Translation-en [34.8 kB]
Get:5 http://192.168.1.1 testing/main Translation-en [3,722 kB]
Get:6 http://192.168.1.1 testing/non-free Translation-en [62.5 kB]
Ign http://192.168.1.1 testing/contrib Translation-en_AU        
Ign http://192.168.1.1 testing/non-free Translation-en_AU
Fetched 103 kB in 4s (25.3 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done

Done indeed!

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the solution. Even though I could not install bzip2 by running apt-get install. I had to copy the /bin/bzip2 from another server, and then run the rest of your solution!

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