Problem with apt update: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened

shora

4/4/24, 9:43 AM

I'm unable to update any packages on my 20.4.4 distribution. When I do 'sudo apt update', I get:

Get:1 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease [114 kB]                                     
Get:2 http://ppa.launchpad.net/deadsnakes/ppa/ubuntu focal InRelease [18,1 kB]                              
Get:3 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/main amd64 Packages [2 082 kB]
Get:4 http://ppa.launchpad.net/deadsnakes/ppa/ubuntu focal/main Sources [3 632 B]
Get:5 http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal InRelease [265 kB]                                            
[...]
Get:110 http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports/universe amd64 c-n-f Metadata [880 B]                                     
Get:111 http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports/multiverse amd64 c-n-f Metadata [116 B]                                   
Fetched 53,9 MB in 18s (3 028 kB/s)                                                                                                   
Reading package lists... Error!
E: Problem parsing dependency 21 of openssh-server:amd64=1:8.2p1-4ubuntu0.2
E: Error occurred while processing openssh-server (NewVersion2)
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/dpkg/status
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

I tried sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* then sudo apt update but it returns the same error.

I really don't know what to try or do. Thanks in advance for your help on this!

0 + 0

updates

update-manager

package-management

apt

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: Problem with apt update: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.