[Solved] E: Encountered a section with no Package: header

While I was trying to update my system with “apt-get update” I always got the error as shown below :

E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_natty_main_bina ry-i386_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
E: _cache->open() failed, please report.

and I also couldn’t even start the Synaptic Packet Manager,
I did some research in internet and found the solution. The solution was to remove all the package source listing and then rebuild it.


# First delete all of the previously available listings
sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/* -vf

# And then use apt-get to rebuild your package listings
sudo apt-get update

The rebuilding takes a bit time, so you will have to be patient.

References :
1. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1750755#7
2. https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/update-manager/+question/155062