On Sun 29 Mar 2026 at 18:58:56 (+0200), Thomas Schmitt wrote: > today i updated my headless Sid VM and saw new messages like > > Err:2 http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable/main Sources.diff/Index > Couldn't find the start of the patch series > > Should i worry ? > (Should i activate the backup of the virtual disk and try again ?) > > > The last update was in september 2025. Its recorded log does not > contain "Err" messages. > In contrast to that update in 2025, some final lines after > Reading package lists... Done > were missing today: > Building dependency tree... > Reading state information... > 873 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.
When I update (not upgrade), "Reading package lists... Done" is the final line I expect to see. Sometimes the network might be a bit 'lumpy', and parts/all of the download may fail, which can give messages like: W: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead. If there are any problems like that, I just repeat. If I've been editing sources.list, or have any other worries, I just delete all the lists, and update downloads a fresh set. I'm then happy they're correct, and quit worrying. The lines: Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree... Done Reading state information... Done come from (dist-)upgrade, and are typically followed by lines such as: Calculating upgrade... Done The following packages will be upgraded: <the list> <n> upgraded, <n> newly installed, <n> to remove and <n> not upgraded. Yours may differ in detail because of the sheer number of packages involved; IDK. > A new last line appeared instead: > N: Some sources can be modernized. Run 'apt modernize-sources' to do so. I found it easy enough to convert my sources.list to debian.sources just by looking at the example in trixie's Release Notes, §4.3.1. I tested with trixie, bookworm, bullseye, and even buster, which I think contradicts whatever I read before I wrote the last paragraph of https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2025/12/msg00481.html probably the wiki. (With buster it's necessary to write archive.debian.org in place of deb.debian.org, and the odd slash in place of a hyphen.) Be aware of the .gpg→.pgp filename change, though this should be mitigated by new symlinks in /usr/share/keyrings/. > The subsequent dist-upgrade lasted long enough to indicate that > "update" brought info about lots of upgradable packages. > > > Command and full list of update messages: > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > # apt-get update > Get:1 http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable InRelease [187 kB] > Get:2 http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable/main Sources.diff/Index [63.6 > kB] > Err:2 http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable/main Sources.diff/Index > Couldn't find the start of the patch series [ … ] > Get:14 http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable/main all Contents (deb) [42.2 > MB] > Fetched 103 MB in 19s (5,469 kB/s) > > Reading package lists... Done > N: Some sources can be modernized. Run 'apt modernize-sources' to do so. > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > Active lines in sources.list : > > $ grep '^[^#]' /etc/apt/sources.list > deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ unstable main > deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ unstable main > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Cheers, David.
