[Techtalk] Debian apt-get update problem

[Katie Bechtold]

I was just getting around to updating a Debian box that I use very
infrequently, when I ran into a problem for which Googling didn't
provide a solution:

# apt-get autoclean
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done

# apt-get check
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done

# apt-get update
[ ... stuff snipped here ... ]
Hit http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/contrib Release
99% [1 Packages gzip 0] [Query] [Waiting for file] [Waiting for
file]
gzip: stdin: not in gzip format
Get:3 http://ftp.us.debian.org stable/main Sources [729kB]
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org stable/main Release
Get:4 http://ftp.us.debian.org stable/non-free Sources [28.4kB]
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org stable/non-free Release
Err http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/main Packages
  Sub-process gzip returned an error code (1)
Get:5 http://ftp.us.debian.org stable/contrib Sources [22.4kB]
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org stable/contrib Release
99% [2 Sources gzip 0] [Query] [Waiting for file]
gzip: stdin: not in gzip format
Hit ftp://ftp.us.debian.org stable/non-free Packages
Err http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/main Sources
    Sub-process gzip returned an error code (1)
Hit ftp://ftp.us.debian.org stable/non-free Release
Hit ftp://ftp.us.debian.org stable/contrib Packages
Hit ftp://ftp.us.debian.org stable/contrib Release
Get:6 http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/non-free Sources [971B]
Hit http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/non-free Release
Get:7 http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/main Packages [44.5kB]
Hit http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/main Release
Hit http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/contrib Packages
Hit http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/contrib Release
Hit http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/non-free Packages
Hit http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/non-free Release
Get:8 http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/main Sources [18.7kB]
Hit http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/main Release
Hit ftp://ftp.us.debian.org stable/main Release
Hit http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/contrib Sources
Hit http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/contrib Release
Get:9 http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/non-free Sources [971B]
Hit http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/non-free Release
Hit ftp://ftp.us.debian.org stable/non-free Release
Hit ftp://ftp.us.debian.org stable/contrib Release
99% [6 Sources gzip 0]      280kB/s 0s
gzip: stdin: not in gzip format
Err http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/non-free Sources
  Sub-process gzip returned an error code (1)
99% [7 Packages gzip 0]     280kB/s 0s
gzip: stdin: not in gzip format
Err http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/main Packages
  Sub-process gzip returned an error code (1)
Err ftp://ftp.us.debian.org stable/main Sources
  Could not open file
  /var/lib/apt/lists/partial/ftp.us.debian.org_debian_dists_stable_main_source_Sources - open (2 No such file or directory)
99% [Working]                    

[ ... at which point it seems to hang ]

Any pointers please?

- 
Katie Bechtold         http://katie-and-rob.org/

Your program is sick!  Shoot it and put it out of its memory.