"the package cache file is corrupted" error

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Try this fixes:

  1. Open the file /etc/apt/sources.list:

    sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list
    
  2. Comment out either line 52 or 54 with a # at the start of your choice.

  3. Now run sudo apt update

Now do (WARNING: copy and paste, don't leave out the *):

sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
sudo apt update
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Jinzu
Author by

Jinzu

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

  • Jinzu
    Jinzu over 1 year

    When I run

    sudo apt-get update
    

    I get multiple errors and warnings. The final error is:

    The package cache file is corrupted
    

    Here are the errors and warnings.

    Reading package lists... Error!
    W: Target Packages (main/binary-amd64/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:52 and /etc/apt/sources.list:54
    W: Target Packages (main/binary-i386/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:52 and /etc/apt/sources.list:54
    W: Target Packages (main/binary-all/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:52 and /etc/apt/sources.list:54
    W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en_US) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:52 and /etc/apt/sources.list:54
    W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:52 and /etc/apt/sources.list:54
    W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-amd64.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:52 and /etc/apt/sources.list:54
    W: Target DEP-11-icons (main/dep11/icons-64x64.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:52 and /etc/apt/sources.list:54
    E: Failed to fetch store:/var/lib/apt/lists/partial/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-security_main_dep11_icons-64x64.tar.gz  Hash Sum mismatch
    E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
    W: Target Packages (main/binary-amd64/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:52 and /etc/apt/sources.list:54
    W: Target Packages (main/binary-i386/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:52 and /etc/apt/sources.list:54
    W: Target Packages (main/binary-all/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:52 and /etc/apt/sources.list:54
    W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en_US) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:52 and /etc/apt/sources.list:54
    W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:52 and /etc/apt/sources.list:54
    W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-amd64.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:52 and /etc/apt/sources.list:54
    W: Target DEP-11-icons (main/dep11/icons-64x64.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:52 and /etc/apt/sources.list:54
    E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-security_main_binary-amd64_Packages (1)
    E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-security_main_binary-i386_Packages (1)
    E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-security_main_binary-all_Packages (1)
    E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-security_main_i18n_Translation-en (1)
    E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-security_restricted_binary-amd64_Packages (1)
    E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-security_restricted_binary-i386_Packages (1)
    E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-security_restricted_binary-all_Packages (1)
    E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-security_restricted_i18n_Translation-en (1)
    E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-security_universe_binary-amd64_Packages (1)
    E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-security_universe_binary-i386_Packages (1)
    E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-security_universe_binary-all_Packages (1)
    E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-security_universe_i18n_Translation-en (1)
    E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-security_multiverse_binary-amd64_Packages (1)
    E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-security_multiverse_binary-i386_Packages (1)
    E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-security_multiverse_binary-all_Packages (1)
    E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-security_multiverse_i18n_Translation-en (1)
    W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems
    E: The package cache file is corrupted
    

    Question is different in that there are numerous warnings and errors. We have the same error message but not the same problem.

  • Jinzu
    Jinzu over 6 years
    Unfortunately this did not fix the problem
  • George Udosen
    George Udosen over 6 years
    Updated answer please pay attention to the command sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*!
  • RichArt
    RichArt about 6 years
    I could solve the problem without the first 3 steps. Just did rm -rf....
  • Dason
    Dason almost 5 years
    Calling out a line number might not be the most informative if the file has been modified. Can you specify what content should be commented out?
  • George Udosen
    George Udosen almost 5 years
    Remove duplicate lines from that file. Comment out one of such duplicates.
  • Ravi Teja
    Ravi Teja over 2 years
    removing list and updating did magic for me. Thanks