Ubuntu – Just updated the apt package on 16.04, now any apt command gives me a relocation error

Apparently, there are some mixed permissions and directories into the /var/lib/apt/lists/ removing them and recreating should fix the issue:

sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/
sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/apt/lists/partial
sudo apt-get update

First command should nuke away the directory, second recreate the partial directory, third populate the lists files.

The simple answer is you are abusing the persistence mechanism and you need to stop =)

The somewhat longer answer is persistence uses a COW (copy on write) mechanism - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copy-on-write

Sorry for the Wikipedia link =)

So the iso (well technically the root files system , squashfs) is a read only file system. This "iso" or root file system can never be changed short or remastering the iso.

Enter the idea of persistence, a mechanism to create an overlay if you will . So if you update your system or make changes, the changes are made to a file (persistence) and not the iso.

This works well for simple tasks such as making adjustments to your interface, customizing the desktop, saving some data, saving wireless passwords.

But the COW system breaks down and you make changes on changes. So you have a base RO file system, and you run sudo apt-update over and over, the COW system is not a database to tack all those changes to changes to changes and eventually fails.

The fix is to either:

1. Use Persistence sparingly, and make as few changes as possible, perhaps storing user settings, wireless passwords, and installing, one time, some applications. But do not abuse it by treating it as an installed system and try to run sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade , the COW can not handle multiple changes to hundreds of packages.

2. Just do a regular install. Probably the best idea as you obviously intend to continue to use Ubuntu.

Hope that answer is not too technical and I hope I did not over simplify the situation too much .