I have the same problem here, on the LTS release (12.04 64bit).
After some time, preload.state gets corrupted, with comments like "line 2693: invalid tag".
Removing the line does not solve the problem, since it leads to other errors. The only way to get preload working again
is to remove preload.state.
I think this is a severe bug, for a package shipped with a LTS release.
I have the same problem here, on the LTS release (12.04 64bit).
After some time, preload.state gets corrupted, with comments like "line 2693: invalid tag".
Removing the line does not solve the problem, since it leads to other errors. The only way to get preload working again
is to remove preload.state.
I think this is a severe bug, for a package shipped with a LTS release.