Unable to open Ubuntu Software Center, cannot repair package catalog

11.10 software-center

8,201

Solution 1

I posted the answer however I was told the is incorrect, I did experience the same thing right now it cause by the adobe flash play. I forcefully close it.And that cause the worms to bleed. Open terminal and type the following command sudo dpkg --configure -a it gonna work. Thanks

Solution 2

check out solution mentioned in: How to fix broken repository information?

 sudo apt-get check && sudo apt-get update 
 sudo apt-get upgrade

It seems to work good for me

Solution 3

It seems your actual package catalog is fine, so I'm assuming the Software Center app-install cache is corrupted. Try deleting it with the following command:

rm -r ~/.cache/software-center

8,201

Author by

Dave

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

Dave over 1 year

I just upgraded to 11.10, but during the installation something happened towards the end with the adobe flash package and the installation just ended. It said it would try to recover, but didn't, and now I'm booting fine into 11.10. However, when I try to open Ubuntu Software Center, I get this dialog box:

enter image description here

When I click repair, it asks for the root password, then pops this up again. It will continue to pop up until I close the software center. I've tried to update/upgrade my repository, I've tried to sudo apt-get install -f, I've tried removing the adobe flash plugin, but nothing seems to be helping.

[EDIT] requested output (sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade):

Ign http://dl.google.com stable InRelease
Ign http://dl.google.com stable InRelease                                                                                                                                                                          
Get:1 http://dl.google.com stable Release.gpg [198 B]                                                                                                                                                              
Get:2 http://dl.google.com stable Release.gpg [198 B]                                                                                                                                                              
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net oneiric InRelease                                                                                                                                
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net oneiric InRelease                                                                                                   
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security InRelease                                                                                        
Ign http://archive.canonical.com oneiric InRelease                                                                                               
Get:3 http://dl.google.com stable Release [1,347 B]                                                                                              
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com oneiric InRelease                                                                                                                                    
Get:4 http://dl.google.com stable Release [1,347 B]                                                                                                                                             
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net oneiric Release.gpg                                                                                                                                  
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security Release.gpg                                                                                                               
Hit http://archive.canonical.com oneiric Release.gpg                                                                                                                   
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com oneiric Release.gpg                                                                                                 
Get:5 http://dl.google.com stable/main amd64 Packages [1,207 B]                                                                                  
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net oneiric Release.gpg                                                                                                                                              
Get:6 http://dl.google.com stable/main i386 Packages [1,199 B]                                                                                                         
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security Release                                                                                      
Hit http://archive.canonical.com oneiric Release                                                                                                               
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com oneiric Release                                                                                            
Ign http://dl.google.com stable/main TranslationIndex                                                                                   
Get:7 http://dl.google.com stable/main amd64 Packages [764 B]                                                    
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net oneiric Release                                                                                                                  
Get:8 http://dl.google.com stable/main i386 Packages [779 B]                                                                                                  
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/main Sources                                                                                                  
Ign http://dl.google.com stable/main TranslationIndex                                                                                  
Hit http://archive.canonical.com oneiric/partner amd64 Packages                                                  
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com oneiric/main Sources                                                                
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net oneiric Release                                                                     
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/restricted Sources                                                                      
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/universe Sources                                                                       
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/multiverse Sources                                               
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/main amd64 Packages                                                                    
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/restricted amd64 Packages                                                              
Hit http://archive.canonical.com oneiric/partner i386 Packages                                                                         
Ign http://archive.canonical.com oneiric/partner TranslationIndex                                                
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com oneiric/main amd64 Packages                                                         
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com oneiric/main i386 Packages                                                          
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net oneiric/main Sources                                                                                      
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net oneiric/main amd64 Packages                                                                               
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net oneiric/main i386 Packages                                                          
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net oneiric/main TranslationIndex                                                       
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/universe amd64 Packages                                          
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/multiverse amd64 Packages                                        
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/main i386 Packages                                               
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/restricted i386 Packages                                         
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/universe i386 Packages                                           
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/multiverse i386 Packages                                         
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/main TranslationIndex                                            
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric InRelease                                                               
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates InRelease                                                       
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com oneiric/main TranslationIndex                                                       
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net oneiric/main Sources                                          
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net oneiric/main amd64 Packages                                   
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net oneiric/main i386 Packages                                    
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net oneiric/main TranslationIndex                                 
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/multiverse TranslationIndex                
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/restricted TranslationIndex                
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/universe TranslationIndex                  
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric Release.gpg                                       
Ign http://dl.google.com stable/main Translation-en_US                                                           
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates Release.gpg                                                     
Ign http://dl.google.com stable/main Translation-en                                                              
Ign http://archive.canonical.com oneiric/partner Translation-en_US                                               
Ign http://dl.google.com stable/main Translation-en_US                                                           
Ign http://dl.google.com stable/main Translation-en                                                              
Ign http://archive.canonical.com oneiric/partner Translation-en                                                  
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/main Translation-en_US                                           
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/main Translation-en                        
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com oneiric/main Translation-en_US                                
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/multiverse Translation-en_US               
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/multiverse Translation-en
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/restricted Translation-en
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net oneiric/main Translation-en_US                                
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com oneiric/main Translation-en                                   
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric Release                                           
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security/universe Translation-en                     
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net oneiric/main Translation-en             
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net oneiric/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net oneiric/main Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates Release
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/main Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/restricted Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/universe Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/multiverse Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/main amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/restricted amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/universe amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/multiverse amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/main i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/restricted i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/universe i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/multiverse i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/main TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/multiverse TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/restricted TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/universe TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/main Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/restricted Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/universe Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/multiverse Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/main amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/restricted amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/universe amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/multiverse amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/main i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/restricted i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/universe i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/multiverse i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/main TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/multiverse TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/restricted TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/universe TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/main Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/multiverse Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/restricted Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric/universe Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/main Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/multiverse Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/restricted Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates/universe Translation-en
Fetched 7,039 B in 5s (1,347 B/s)
Reading package lists... Done
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
  wine
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.

Dave over 12 years

This is still a problem, in case anyone has any more ideas. Thanks!
Dave over 12 years

As an update on this, I am having trouble with Flash, which was the original culprit during the upgrade. I can't seem to get it installed, and it won't work in either Chrome or Firefox.
matt over 12 years

Use synaptic to check for broken packages / try sudo dpkg --configure -a / why is WINE held back?
Eliah Kagan almost 12 years

@matt wine is probably held back because, to upgrade it, packages would have to be installed (or removed). sudo apt-get upgrade will not install or remove packages. To upgrade packages even when doing so requires installation or removal of packages, you must use sudo apt-get dist-upgrade. It would perhaps be useful to have the output of sudo apt-get dist-upgrade added to the question as well. (sudo apt-get update should be run first, but its output doesn't have to be added again unless it's different from before.)
Admin about 11 years

You can try sudo apt-get -f upgrade. I did it and it worked.

Dave over 12 years

Unfortunately, that does not seem to have had any effect on the problem. Is there something I should do after deleting the cache?
Jjed over 12 years

No... it should be regenerate on its own on relaunching the Software Center. Looks like my solution wasn't the right one.
Eliah Kagan almost 12 years

You should not use Nautilus to manually delete all files from any blanket search result unless you really know what you are doing. Per-user flash-related files that can be safely deleted are located in .adobe and .macromedia (in the user's home directory). Everything else should be removed with package management (e.g., sudo apt-get purge ...) where ... is replaced with the names of installed Flash packages. You can't remove systemwide configuration and program files with Nautilus running as a non-root user anyway, and it's very dangerous to do so running Nautilus as root.
Matt Timbrook almost 12 years

I had the same issue and did (opening nautilus as root and searching "adobe flash" and delete all the results. Then do apt-get update) and it fixed my problem. I will agree is was probably a bad idea, but it fixed my problem.
Mochan over 11 years

I Had a prob that when trying to launch Ubuntu Software Center in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, the app would open and not populate, and stop responding, regardless of how long I left it. the command rm -r ~/.cache/software-center fixed the issue as recommended as per above, thank you very much, not sure if this is the right place to put this, but hope it helps some one else out. Antonio