2
$ gnome-language-selector
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/gnome-language-selector", line 22, in on_activate
    options=options)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/LanguageSelector/gtk/GtkLanguageSelector.py", line 199, in __init__
    self.updateLanguageView()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/LanguageSelector/gtk/GtkLanguageSelector.py", line 712, in updateLanguageView
    self.openCache(progress)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/LanguageSelector/LanguageSelector.py", line 33, in openCache
    self._cache = LanguageSelector.LangCache.LanguageSelectorPkgCache(self._localeinfo, progress)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/LanguageSelector/LangCache.py", line 76, in __init__
    apt.Cache.__init__(self, progress)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 113, in __init__
    self.open(progress)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 164, in open
    self._cache = apt_pkg.Cache(progress)
SystemError: E:Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-backports_main_binary-amd64_Packages (1), E:Encountered a section with no Package: header, E:Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-backports_main_binary-i386_Packages, E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

Im trying to install Chinese as an additional language on my system.

Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Release: 16.04 Codename: xenial

After clicking on "Language Support" in System Settings, i see a new window open "Checking available language support" but after 3 seconds it closes and nothing happens.

After inputting this in command line:

sudo apt-get -y install `check-language-support -l zh

I get this error message...

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/check-language-support", line 53, in <module>
    ls = language_support_pkgs.LanguageSupport(None, pkg_depends)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/language_support_pkgs.py", line 13, in __init__
    self.apt_cache = apt.Cache()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 113, in __init__
    self.open(progress)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 164, in open
    self._cache = apt_pkg.Cache(progress)
SystemError: E:Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-backports_main_binary-amd64_Packages (1), E:Encountered a section with no Package: header, E:Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-backports_main_binary-i386_Packages, E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
Reading package lists... Error!
E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-backports_main_binary-amd64_Packages (1)
E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_xenial-backports_main_binary-i386_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

How do I install Chinese? Why am I getting these error messages? How do i fix? Thank you to anyone who can help.

Zanna
  • 72,312
adamearl
  • 31

1 Answers1

0

Ok, I think you should run the commands suggested in the answer which Byte Commander pointed at:

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/*
sudo apt update

EDIT

In simple terms for some reason you got malformed files in the cache during updates and what this solution does is to clean the cache and get new information, therefore removing the malformed files.

Community
  • 1
Gunnar Hjalmarsson
  • 34,191