[Bug 346386] Re: [MASTER] Update fails with invalid package files with "Encountered a section with no Package: header"

[Brian Murray]

This bug report has multiple 'tasks' for the different releases in which
it needs to be fixed.  We have fixed this in the Quantal release of
Ubuntu which will become 12.10.  We are also actively working on fixing
this in the 12.04 release of Ubuntu.  When an updated version of apt is
in the -proposed repository for 12.04 there will be a comment made on
this bug report and it will contain information about how you can help
test the fix so that we can move the package to the -updates repository.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/346386

Title:
  [MASTER] Update fails with invalid package files with "Encountered a
  section with no Package: header"

Status in “apt” package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in “apt” source package in Natty:
  Fix Released
Status in “apt” source package in Precise:
  Fix Committed
Status in “apt” package in Debian:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: adept-updater

  Pertinent data printed when attempting to run Updater as follows:

  An unresolvable problem occurred while initializing the package
  information.

  Please report this bug against the 'update-manager' package and
  include the following error message:

  'E:Encountered a section with no Package: header, E:Problem with
  MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu
  .com_ubuntu_dists_intrepid_universe_binary-amd64_Packages, E:The
  package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.'

  WORKAROUND:
  Remove problematic files from /var/lib/apt/lists/ and rerun apt-get update.

  In the event that one is connected to a network with a proxy server
  that returns html pages (like a web page requesting you to login) and
  not package list files.   Those html files will get downloaded to
  /var/lib/apt/lists/ and prevent someone from using a package manager
  until the problem html pages are removed.

  TEST CASE:
  1) download the dummy-proxy attachment from this bug report
  2) run dummy-proxy (python dummy-proxy) on a precise system (this simulates a proxy that is not allowing access to archive.ubuntu.com and gives you   garbage html instead)
  3) Execute 'http://localhost:8080 sudo apt-get update' in a terminal
  4) Observe the following error messages in your terminal:
  W: GPG error: http://archive.ubuntu.com precise InRelease: File /var/lib/apt/lists/partial/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise_InRelease doesn't  start with a clearsigned message
  W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/multiverse/i18n/Index  No Hash entry in Release file /var/lib/apt/lists/partial/    archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise_multiverse_i18n_Index
  W: Failed to fetch gzip:/var/lib/apt/lists/partial/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise_multiverse_source_Sources Encountered a section with no    Package: header
  5) Stop dummy-proxy
  6) Execute 'sudo apt-get update' in a terminal
  7) Observe the following error message:
  Reading package lists... Done
  W: GPG error: http://archive.ubuntu.com precise Release: The following signatures were invalid: BADSIG 40976EAF437D05B5 Ubuntu Archive Automatic      Signing Key <ftpmaster at ubuntu.com>
  8) Remove the problematic files in /var/lib/apt/lists (sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/*)

  Install apt from -proposed
  1) run dummy-proxy (python dummy-proxy) on a precise system (this simulates a proxy that is not allowing access to archive.ubuntu.com and gives you   garbarge html instead)
  2) Execute 'http://localhost:8080 sudo apt-get update' in a terminal
  3) Observe the following error messages in your terminal:
  W: A error occurred during the signature verification. The repository is not updated and the previous index files will be used. GPG error: http://    archive.ubuntu.com precise Release: The following signatures were invalid: NODATA 1 NODATA 2
  W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/Release
  W: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
  4) Stop dummy-proxy
  5) Execute 'sudo apt-get update' in a terminal
  6) Observe the update succeed

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