59

I am getting this error in Ubuntu 12.04 , while doing the below operation. 

frank@august:~$ sudo apt-get install ttf-mscorefonts-installer
[sudo] password for frank: 
E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'sudo dpkg --configure -a' to correct    the problem. 
frank@august:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
dpkg: error: parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0045' near line 0:
 newline in field name `#padding'
frank@august:~$

&

frank@august:~$ head /var/lib/dpkg/updates/0045
#padding
#padding
#padding
#padding

frank@august:~$

I can't see where is the error , help me to solve this. Thank you.

Raja G
  • 102,391
  • 106
  • 255
  • 328

4 Answers4

106

Ok I have solved the issue myself.

I ran these two commands in terminal (CTRL+ALT+T):

cd /var/lib/dpkg/updates && rm -rf 0045
sudo dpkg --configure -a

And my issue was solved.

Raja G
  • 102,391
  • 106
  • 255
  • 328
  • 7
    Since attempting to run sudo rm -rf /var/lib/dpkg/updates/0045 is safe and proper but could have disastrous results if one types in a stray space next to any of the /es (especially the first two!), it may be best to warn about this danger or to suggest something like cd /var/lib/dpkg/updates && rm -rf 0045. Good solution though! – Eliah Kagan Mar 25 '14 at 04:24
  • 4
    In such a situation I'd never use sudo rm -rf [file], but sudo mv [file] /var/tmp. – Kalle Richter Jan 29 '17 at 16:40
  • even with sudo access was denied so i had to go to root with sudo -s Thanks, this really helped me though once I was in root. – John D Oct 24 '17 at 02:54
15

Try this:

sudo rm -rf /var/lib/dpkg/updates/*
dpkg --configure -a
Eliah Kagan
  • 117,780
ashish
  • 159
  • 2
11

Looks like the file is corrupted. Suggest you do the following ( pls do take a backup and do it at ur risk ;) ) 

sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/updates/000*
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ttf-mscorefonts-installer
gnuyoga
  • 142
  • Thanks for your answer , but it didnt helped me http://paste.ubuntu.com/1337768/ – Raja G Nov 06 '12 at 17:13
  • This removes the apparently offending file, but in my case that just got me to the next corrupted file. So I just sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/updates/* and then continues with the clean+update, which worked fine. – thoni56 Sep 17 '18 at 12:45
7

It seems that status file corrupted,To fix this you have to delete/clear the file using the command.

sudo dpkg --clear-status

(NB: the --clear-status option is not available anymore. The printout from 'dpkg -?' does not suggest a clear replacement. ) then rebuild the file using the command:

sudo apt-get update
Gui Lima
  • 38
  • 6
KK Patel
  • 19,083