cant remove broken packages in Synaptic

[ro12]

I did an update from 12.04 to 12.10 and 11 packages are broken.I cant repair or remove them. When I run update in Terminal I get this message.
"dpkg: error: parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/status' near line 27728 package 'rar':
mixed non-coinstallable and coinstallable package instances present
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)"
Any ideas much appreciated .

[fantab]

Post the complete output of:

sudo apt-get update

so we know what packages are broken.

[newb85]

And put it in code tags, while you're at it, so it's easier to read. Like this:

[CODE]Output of apt-get update here...[/CODE]

[ro12]

Hello, the out put I get is [Reading package lists... Error!E: Could not open file /var/lib/dpkg/status - open (2: No such file or directory)
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.]

[newb85]

That's strange. What are the results of

ls -l /var/lib/dpkg

[ro12]

out put of: ls -l /var/lib/dpkg is
total 12224
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 May 22 14:05 alternatives
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2960053 May 31 16:46 available-bad
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2960053 May 31 16:49 available.bak
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 May 31 17:01 available-old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8 Apr 29 2010 cmethopt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1446 Apr 2 15:59 diversions
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1492 Apr 2 15:53 diversions-old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1 Aug 14 2011 format
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 552960 May 21 17:43 info
-rw-r----- 1 root root 0 Jun 15 21:01 lock
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Apr 15 2010 parts
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 228 Jan 25 2012 statoverride
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 185 Jan 25 2012 statoverride-old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2994637 May 31 16:48 status-bad
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2994637 May 21 17:43 status-old
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 May 21 17:42 triggers
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 May 21 17:43 updates

[ro12]

Somehow I removed the packages, but now I cant install or upgrade my system.

[fantab]

Post the complete output of:

sudo apt-get update

so that we know what is happening and going wrong.

[newb85]

There appears to be a problem with your /var/lib/dpkg/status and /var/lib/dpkg/available files. Let's focus on the status file first, since that's what's kicking out the error message at the moment. I've never dealt with problems in these files, so if anyone else has a better idea for diagnosing the problem, please jump in.

Please give the output of

cat /var/lib/dpkg/status-bad | grep Status

Also, put terminal commands and terminal outputs in code tags. I know it might seem cumbersome to type them in manually or use the Adv. Reply instead of the Quick Reply, but really, it's easier to read (case in point: post #6) and harder to make a mistake copying and pasting, and that's why it's part of the Code of Conduct.

[matt_symes]

Hi

For the initial problem, read these bug reports

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...g/+bug/1015567
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...g/+bug/1015616

I would diff the two status and available files to see what the changes are (the .bad and .old files) and, depending on the differences, either try to fix the .bad files or roll back to the .old files.

I will not be about though, for the rest of the day.

Kind regards