Unable to install anything on Ubuntu 14.04

Question

Whenever I try to run any apt-get command, it gives me this error message:

dpkg: error: corrupt info database format file '/var/lib/dpkg/info/format'

E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)

Please advice how to rectify this.

Answer 1

Delete that "format" file, or if you're paranoid, back it up (move it to the RAM disk):

sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/info/format /dev/shm

Mine only contains the number 1 and a carriage return (\n), resulting in a two byte file. You can create this from the command line:

sudo printf "1\n" > /var/lib/dpkg/info/format

If it fails, then simply restore your backed up "format" file over the top of the new one you created.

sudo mv /dev/shm/format /var/lib/dpkg/info/