somehow my apt-get got torqued and wouldn’t work anymore. i tried running:

sudo dpkg –configure -a

i couldn’t do this command because the last install download was still in place.

dpkg: parse error, in file ‘/var/lib/dpkg/updates/some_file’ near line 0:

you can take care of this error by removing (rm) the file and rruning dpkg again

sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/updates/some_file

let’s get back to dpkg configure. i read somewhere else you should add “apt-get -f install” to the end. so you’ll end up with something like this:

sudo dpkg --configure -a && sudo apt-get -f install

anyhow, it saved my butt! after running the above, i recommend using

sudo aptitude update