How to fix dpkg: error: parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/status' in APT

The system automatically maintains backups of the dpkg status file. Check what's available:

ls -la /var/lib/dpkg/status* /var/backups/dpkg.status*

You should see files like status-old or dpkg.status.0 in the backups directory.

If a status-old file exists, restore it:

sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/status /var/lib/dpkg/status.bad
sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/status-old /var/lib/dpkg/status
sudo dpkg --configure -a

The first command preserves the corrupted file for inspection, then restores the previous working version.

If no status-old exists, check the backups directory:

sudo cp /var/backups/dpkg.status.0 /var/lib/dpkg/status
sudo apt-get update

This uses the automatic daily backup maintained by the dpkg system.

After restoring the status file, force dpkg to reconfigure all packages:

sudo dpkg --configure -a

This command tells dpkg to complete any interrupted package configurations and validates the database consistency.

With the status file restored, fix any remaining package dependency issues:

sudo apt-get install -f

The -f flag tells apt to fix broken dependencies and install missing packages.

Check the restored file for obvious corruption:

head -n 20 /var/lib/dpkg/status
tail -n 20 /var/lib/dpkg/status
sudo apt-get update

If apt update succeeds, the status file is valid.