error: parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0001' near line 0: newline in field name `#padding'

Question

I was try to install mono using the following command:

sudo apt-get install mono-*

I closed the terminal while it was installing. I restarted the install, and I got the error message:

Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)

I so far tried running these commands:

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

I am now getting the following error message:

dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'sudo dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem.

I then used sudo dpkg --configure -a, but now i am getting the following error:

dpkg: error: parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0001' near line 0: newline in field name `#padding'"**

I also tried cd /var/lib/dpkg/updates && rm -rf 0045 and sudo dpkg --configure -a , but that was no use.

how do i fix this one?

Solution 1

Make a backup and remove the /var/lib/dpkg/updates/0001 via

sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/updates/0001 /var/lib/dpkg/updates/0001.X

After that

sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get install -f

Solution 2

here's how i fixed this problem .. first i removed the whole updates directory ..

rm -r /var/lib/dpkg/updates

after that create a new updates directory

mkdir /var/lib/dpkg/updates

and finally

sudo dpkg --configure -a

Comments

[muru]

Just curious: if the file is named 0001, why would you do rm 0045? O.o

[user332660]

@muru if tried with 0001 then i got error like "rm: cannot remove `0001': Permission denied".

[Kaz Wolfe]

I have edit permissions on this site.

[Kaz Wolfe]

First off, don't delete files unless you are absolutely sure that you know what it does and how to recover if it's important.

[user332660]

ok i wont delete.then?

[Lety]

If you want to delete file in /var/lib/dpkg/updates you need root grant, so run rm command with sudo. Be careful, especially if you use -rf. If you mess up, you may also remove all !!!

[Erwin Smout]

I suffered the exact same dpkg error and this does not help anything to solve it. -1.