failed inizialitation of update-manager package

Sandro,

how much RAM do you have?
Can you also paste here the content of your /etc/apt/apt.conf file?
Can you also, while you are trying a "sudo apt-get -f install" command, check how much memory you have being used (for instance using top in another terminal)?

Thanks.

how much RAM?
using top I get:
Mem: 511732k total, 487284k used, 24448k free, 5144k buffers
Swap: 10482404k total, 92772k used, 10389632k free, 103028k cached

/etc/apt/apt.conf file?
inside /etc/apt/ I find:
apt.conf.d
sources.list
sources.list.save
trusted.gpg
secring.gpg
sources.list.d
trustdb.gpg
trusted.gpg~

inside /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/ I find:
01ubuntu
15adept-periodic-update
50unattended-upgrades
05aptitude
20archive
70debconf
10periodic
25adept-archive-limits
99update-notifier

how much memory you have being used while you are trying a "sudo apt-get -f install" command?
Mem: 511732k total, 506536k used, 5196k free, 1280k buffers

OK?

Sandro

OK,

create the file /etc/apt/apt.conf file and add this line in it:

APT::Cache-Limit 10485760

Save and retry.
I don't think you need to, but try also to close as many programs as you can.

Ops, forgot to add a ; at the end:

APT::Cache-Limit 10485760;

Without the ";" I had serious problems! ;-)

With the ";" I get this error:
---------------------------------------
Impossibile inizializzare le informazioni del pacchetto

Si è verificato un problema irrisolvibile durante l'inizializzazione delle informazioni del pacchetto.

Segnalare questo evento come bug del pacchetto «update-manager» e includere il seguente messaggio di errore:

'E:Dynamic MMap ran out of room, E:Errore nell'analisi di firefox (NewVersion1), E:Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/it.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_feisty_main_binary-amd64_Packages, E:La lista dei pacchetti o il file di status non possono essere letti o aperti.'
---------------------------------------

i.e.: the same as before only that instead of
language-pack-kde-ar (NewVersion1)
I have
firefox (NewVersion1)
AND instead
/var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_feisty-proposed_main_binary-amd64_Packages
I have
/var/lib/apt/lists/it.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_feisty_main_binary-amd64_Packages

Thank you any way

 Sandro

Tried to increase to 15728640 with the same problem.

In /etc/apt/sources.list the uncommented repositories where:
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy main restricted
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy main restricted
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-updates main restricted
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-updates main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-security main restricted
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-proposed restricted main multiverse universe
deb http://it.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ feisty main universe restricted multiverse
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ feisty-security universe main multiverse restricted
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ feisty-updates universe main multiverse restricted
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ feisty-proposed universe main multiverse restricted
deb http://cran.stat.ucla.edu/bin/linux/ubuntu feisty/

I commented the following lines:
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy main restricted
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy main restricted
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-updates main restricted
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-updates main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-security main restricted
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-proposed restricted main multiverse universe

leaving only the following ones:
deb http://it.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ feisty main universe restricted multiverse
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ feisty-security universe main multiverse restricted
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ feisty-updates universe main multiverse restricted
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ feisty-proposed universe main multiverse restricted
deb http://cran.stat.ucla.edu/bin/linux/ubuntu feisty/

After that I tried again: IT RUNS!

Thank you so much for your help!

  Sandro

Thanks Cesare Tirabassi, that solved my question.

Problem with merge list??

here the solution

<a href="http://tips-debian.blogspot.com/2008/04/problem-with-mergelist-varlibdpkgstatus.html">debian tips</a>

Hello Uppers !

I had the same trouble as a consequence of an update to Ubuntu 8.04 from the previous release...
Is this going to work in the exact same way for me ?

<<Could not initialise the package information
An unresolvable problem occurred while initialising the package information.
Please report this bug against the 'update-manager' package and include the following error message:
'E:Dynamic MMap ran out of room,
E:Error occurred while processing gnome-panel (NewVersion1),
E:Problem with MergeList /var/lib/dpkg/status,
E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.' >>

pass on the ladder ;-)
and let me inheritate from the few remaining crumbles of your advanced knowledge.

Otente.

Following Cesar's recommendations to Sandros,

I edited the APT line in the apt file to the suggestred level and now face:

<<An unresolvable problem occurred while initialising the package information.
Please report this bug against the 'update-manager' package and include the following error message:
'E:Dynamic MMap ran out of room,
E:Read error - read (14 Bad address),
E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.'>>

so got rid of one line ;-)) !!!

I will try to increase the cach a bit more and see how it goes.

Any suggestion extremely welcomed !!

Otente.

follow up:

I could not create the apt.conf as even as a root,
I was not allowed to create a file within apt.

I have been searching on the Web for a complete command line glossary,
but I found it quite hard to even find the mere command for creating a file within a folder from the terminal window.

Yes: I AM a newbee ;D

Please people, can anyone leave me a command as to where I should start?
How can I learn the beautiful Ubuntu misteries if even my Package downloader is on the bench... ?

Thank you.

j'ai reçu le message suivant lors d'une tentative de mise a jour a partirde mon dvd telecharged'ubuntustudio8.10intrepid ibex.un probleme insoluble est survenu lors del'initialisation du paquet "update- manager".on me demande de joindre les informations suivantes: E:le type "e" est inconnu sur la ligne 57 dans la liste des sources /etc/apt/sources.list.E:la liste des sources ne peut etre lue.j'essaye d'apprendre le language C et codeblocks et anjuta ne fonctionnent pasnormalement.il y a 4 mises a jour qui ne peuvent etre effectues sur mon systeme que j'ai du reinstalle hier puisque tout plantait.j'ai essaye de taper sur un terminal la ligne suivante:"sudo apt-get clean all"et on me renvoie le meme message d'erreur(le type "e" est( inconnu sur la ligne 57...)merci d'avance en esperant pouvoir faire un don ala communaute ubuntu vers juin juillet2009