[Synaptic-devel] getting E:Dynamic MMap ran out of room at startup

[Larry Evans]

I'm on a debian system, and have been using synaptic for several
years now.  When I started it today, the first time it
started OK.  When I searched for docbook, the synaptic window
suddenly closed.  I started it again, and this 2nd time I got
an error message window with:

  E: Dynamic MMap ran out of room
  E: Dynamic MMap ran out of room
  E: Error while processing libxt6
  E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/dpkg/status
  E: the package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened

I closed this error message window, but now I cannot see any packages
in the main window.

What should I do to avoid this problem?

TIA.
Larry