DebuggingInstallationIssues

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||<tablestyle="float:right; font-size: 0.9em; width:30%; background:#F1F1ED; background-image: url('https://librarian.launchpad.net/1812570/bugsquad.png'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: 98% 0.5ex; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; padding: 0.5em;">'''Contents'''[[BR]][[TableOfContents]]|| ## page was renamed from DebuggingApportPackage
## page was renamed from JeanBaptisteLallement/DebuggingApportPackage
## page was renamed from JeanBaptisteLallement/SandBox
<<Include(Debugging/Header)>>
||<tablestyle="float:right; font-size: 0.9em; width:30%; background:#F1F1ED; background-image: url('https://librarian.launchpad.net/1812570/bugsquad.png'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: 98% 0.5ex; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; padding: 0.5em;">'''Contents'''<<BR>><<TableOfContents>>||
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Bugs relating to <package name/category> typically fall into X categories:
 1. User interface bugs - require a detailed description of the issue, steps to reproduce and screen captures where appropriate.
 1. Crasher bugs - Log files from the crash incident are required to track down these.
 1. Hardware specific bugs - The developers may not have access to the hardware that triggers this bug. Certain log files and command outputs can help
 1. Package selection - Help to find the right package (may be specific to category -- a bug filed as ubiquity may in fact be a casper d-i bug, an xorg bug may be an xorg-driver bug, etc.)

= How to file =

Useful for bug-filers and as a boiler-plate advice for triagers. This is the minimum information required for a bug report.

= Bug tags =

Bug tags specific to the package or area should be included here for reporters so they can tag their bug report. It will also be useful for triagers. The Bugs/Tags wiki page should then be modified to include these tags.

= Debugging procedure =

In depth debugging procedures for this particular package or subsystem.

= How to Triage =

Information that will facilitate the triaging of bugs for this package or subsystem. Remind triagers of the bug tags in use for this particular package.

== Stock Reply ==

A stock reply to be used for initial bug reports basically asking for the stuff in "How to file". The Bugs/StockReplies page should include this reply.

== How to Forward ==

In the event that the package or subsystem has an upstream bug tracker this section should be used to detail the steps to forward a bug to that tracker. Some packages may just link to the general "How to Forward" page for another bug tracker like Gnome's bugzilla or freedesktop.org's bug tracker.

= Known bugs =

Description of known bug reports that may receive duplicates and how to recognise them. This information should be obtained by looking for bugs tagged as 'metabug'.

'''Open'''
||<rowbgcolor="#eeeeee"> '''Bug#''' || '''Description''' ||
|| [https://bugs.beta.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/synaptic/+bug/8896 #8896] || This bug can be identified by ... ||

'''Closed'''
||<rowbgcolor="#eeeeee"> '''Bug#''' || '''Description''' ||
|| [https://bugs.beta.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/synaptic/+bug/8896 #8896] || This bug can be identified by ... || 		This page lists some general issues that users might encounter while performing updates of their system. Apport will usually detect these failures and file a bug in Launchpad. These bugs can be identified by the bug tag 'apport-package' and can occur on nearly any package.

There are usually log file attached to the report which differs depending on the kind of install/upgrade:

 * Package install/upgrade: !DpkgTerminalLog

 * Distribution upgrade: !VarLogDistupgradeMain and !VarLogDistupgradeApttermlog


Detailed informations about debugging updatemanager can be found at DebuggingUpdateManager.

Documented below are the most commonly reported issues. For each case there is a description and a sample report and when applicable there is a workaround or fix and the master report it should be marked a duplicate of.

= Known issues =
== Corrupted package archive ==

These errors indicates a corrupted archive (.deb or files on disk) The root cause of the corruption may be a bad network connection, faulty hardware, hardware shutdown,...
 
For those report the common workaround and stock response is:

||<tablestyle="background-color: #eee">Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that there was an error caused by a corrupted archive. Please execute the following commands, as it will clear your package cache, in a terminal ( Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal ) :<<BR>><<BR>>sudo apt-get clean<<BR>>sudo apt-get update<<BR>><<BR>>Then try performing the update again. This will likely resolve your issue. If so please set the bug's status to Invalid. Thanks in advance!||

=== Not a Debian format archive ===

 * Bug : provide a master report

This error indicated that the header of the .deb archive is not recognized as a valid debian format.
{{{
dpkg-deb: `/var/cache/apt/archives/libswscale0_4%3a0.5+svn20090706-2ubuntu2_i386.deb' is not a debian format archive
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libswscale0_4%3a0.5+svn20090706-2ubuntu2_i386.deb (--unpack):
 subprocess dpkg-deb --control returned error exit status 2
}}}

=== Corrupted filesystem tarfile ===

 * Bug Bug:320743

{{{
Unpacking libaccess-bridge-java (from .../libaccess-bridge-java_1.24.0-0ubuntu2_all.deb) ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libaccess-bridge-java_1.24.0-0ubuntu2_all.deb (--unpack):
 corrupted filesystem tarfile - corrupted package archive
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
}}}

=== --fsys-tarfile ===

 * Bug : provide a master report

{{{
Unpacking replacement audacity-data ...
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/audacity-data_1.3.7-2ubuntu1_all.deb (--unpack):
 subprocess dpkg-deb --fsys-tarfile returned error exit status 2
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/audacity-data_1.3.7-2ubuntu1_all.deb
}}}

=== short read - Input/output error ===

 * Bug : provide a master report

An input/output error is likely to mean filesystem corruption, hardware problems or no space left on hard disk.
The typical errors are:

{{{
Unpacking linux-image-2.6.27-11-generic (from .../linux-image-2.6.27-11-generic_2.6.27-11.24_i386.deb) ...
Done.
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-2.6.27-11-generic_2.6.27-11.24_i386.deb (--unpack):
 short read in buffer_copy (backend dpkg-deb during `./lib/modules/2.6.27-11-generic/kernel/drivers/infiniband/core/ib_uverbs.ko')
}}}

or

{{{
Unpacking replacement libfreetype6 ...
dpkg-deb (subprocess): error in buffer_read(stream): failed to write to pipe in copy: Input/output error
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste returned error exit status 2
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libfreetype6_2.3.9-4ubuntu0.1_i386.deb (--unpack):
 short read in buffer_copy (backend dpkg-deb during `./usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6.3.20')
}}}


The suggestion is to run a manual fsck and look whether the hard drive or storage device is operating correctly (dmesg may contain helpful information too)

''TODO: Write a standard response''

=== Exec format error ===

 * Bug : Bug:512096

This error indicates that the installation or removal script is corrupted. It is caused by a sudden system failure during dpkg operation (power failure, hardware failure, ...) on filesystems supporting delayed allocation (like ext4, xfs, btrfs, ...)

Empty files or files filed with garbage are left on the hard drive. The file causing the dpkg error is one of /var/lib/dpkg/info/PACKAGE_NAME.p*

This error can occur either during installation or removal of the package.

During installation of a package
{{{
Setting up flashplugin-installer (10.0.32.18ubuntu1) ...
dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute installed post-installation script: Exec format error
dpkg: error processing flashplugin-installer (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2
}}}

During removal of a package
{{{
Removing gnome-do ...
dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute installed pre-removal script: Exec format error
dpkg: error processing gnome-do (--purge):
 subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2
}}}


'''Workaround A:''' Finish the install
||<tablestyle="background-color: #eee">`sudo apt-get clean`<<BR>>`sudo aptitude download python-libvirt`<<BR>>`sudo dpkg --unpack ./python-libvirt*.deb`<<BR>>`sudo dpkg --configure python-libvirt`||


'''Workaround B:''' Remove the package and reinstall
||<tablestyle="background-color: #eee">`sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/info/flashplugin-installer.{postinst,prerm,postrm}`<<BR>>`sudo apt-get remove --purge flashplugin-installer`<<BR>>`sudo apt-get clean`<<BR>>`sudo apt-get update`<<BR>><<BR>>Then reinstall the package||

''Note: Change the package by the one which failed (check the log file)''

''Note about localized error message:''<<BR>>
Finding this error in the log is not always easy because the error string has been localized.
 . Erreur de format pour exec()
 . Error de formato ejecutable
 . Errore di formato di exec
 . Exec format error
 . Formatfel på körbar fil
 . Érvénytelen végrehajtható fájlformátum
 . Exec formátum hiba
 . Verkeerd uitvoerbaar bestand
 . Exec 格式错误


=== triggers ci file contains unknown directive syntax ===
 * Bug Bug:500042

This is the same kind of issue than the one above. It means that the trigger file is empty or corrupted.
The file is /var/lib/dpkg/info/PACKAGE.triggers
This error can occur during installation or removal of a package.

During installation of a package
{{{
Setting up ureadahead (0.90.3-2) ...
dpkg: error processing ureadahead (--configure):
 triggers ci file contains unknown directive syntax
}}}

'''Workaround'''
||<tablestyle="background-color: #eee">remove the file /var/lib/dpkg/info/PACKAGE.triggers<<BR>>`sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/info/PACKAGE.triggers`<<BR>>and run<<BR>>`sudo dpkg --purge ureadahead`<<BR>>then clean your cache<<BR>>`sudo apt-get clean`<<BR>>and try performing the install of ureadahead again.||

=== lzma : decoder error ===

 * Bug : provide a master report

{{{
Unpacking openjdk-6-jre-lib (from .../openjdk-6-jre-lib_6b12-0ubuntu6_all.deb) ...
lzma: Decoder error
dpkg-deb: subprocess <decompress> returned error exit status 1
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/openjdk-6-jre-lib_6b12-0ubuntu6_all.deb (--unpack):
 short read in buffer_copy (backend dpkg-deb during `./usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/lib/ext/localedata.jar')
}}}

=== files list file missing final newline / contains empty filename ===

 * Bug Bug:108189

This error indicates that the file /var/lib/dpkg/info/PACKAGE_NAME.list is corrupted ( empty or full of garbage ) The reason may be a disk error, a memory error, a process being interrupted during unpack, ...

Typically these errors take the form :
<<BR>>`files list file for package packagename contains empty filename`<<BR>>
or
<<BR>>`files list file for package packagename is missing final newline`<<BR>>


{{{
Selecting previously deselected package linux-source-2.6.27.
(Reading database ... dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-source-2.6.27_2.6.27-9.19_all.deb (--unpack):
 files list file for package `libpoppler-glib3' is missing final newline
}}}

'''Workaround:''' Recreate the file list from .deb<<BR>>
This can be fixed, with a little work. If you have the .deb file for the offending package currently available on your system, then check its integrity by running:<<BR>>
`dpkg --contents /var/cache/apt/archive/libgnome2-0_2.24.1-0ubuntu3_i386.deb`<<BR>>
or get a .deb file by running :<<BR>>
`sudo apt-get install --reinstall --download-only libgnome2-0`


Once you have a valid .deb file, then you can reconstitute the file. First become root by using sudo -s (enter your administrative user password if necessary), and then use the following command (copy/paste and change the package name accordingly):<<BR>>

`dpkg -c /var/cache/apt/archive/libgnome2-0_2.24.1-0ubuntu3_i386.deb | awk \`<<BR>>
`{if ($6 == "./") { print "/."; } \`<<BR>>
`else if (substr($6, length($6), 1) == "/") \`<<BR>>
`{print substr($6, 2, length($6) - 2); } \`<<BR>>
`else { print substr($6, 2, length($6) - 1);}}' \`<<BR>>
`> /var/lib/dpkg/info/libgnome2-0.list`<<BR>>



== Inconsistent state ==
=== Package in bad inconsistent state ===

 * Bug : provide a master report

{{{
Removing flashplugin-nonfree ...
dpkg: error processing flashplugin-installer (--purge):
 Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should
 reinstall it before attempting a removal.
}}}

'''Workaround A:'''
||<tablestyle="background-color: #eee">Please open a Terminal from the menu Applications->Accessories->Terminal and type or copy and paste the row below:<<BR>><<BR>>`sudo apt-get --reinstall install cupsys`<<BR>>`sudo dpkg --configure -a`<<BR>>`sudo apt-get -f install`<<BR>><<BR>>give your user password when requested, you don't see nothing when you type it, then press enter.||

'''Workaround B:'''
||<tablestyle="background-color: #eee">Try the command below to purge the offending packages :<<BR>>`sudo dpkg --purge --force-remove-reinstreq flashplugin-installer flashplugin-nonfree`<<BR>><<BR>>Then to reinstall :<<BR>>`sudo apt-get install flashplugin-installer`||

=== package is already installed and configured ===

 * Bug : provide a master report

{{{
dpkg: error processing language-pack-ar (--configure):
 package language-pack-ar is already installed and configured
}}}


'''Workaround A:'''
||<tablestyle="background-color: #eee">`sudo dpkg --configure -a`||

'''Workaround B:'''
||<tablestyle="background-color: #eee">`apt-get install --reinstall language-pack-ar`||
== Other issues ==
=== Can't access archive ===

 * Bug : provide a master report

{{{
dpkg: error processing /media/cdrom0//pool/main/g/gcc-4.4/libstdc++6-4.4-dev_4.4.1-4ubuntu8_i386.deb (--unpack):
 cannot access archive: No such file or directory
dpkg: error processing /media/cdrom0//pool/main/g/gcc-4.4/g++-4.4_4.4.1-4ubuntu8_i386.deb (--unpack):
 cannot access archive: No such file or directory
}}}

=== No space left on device ===
 
 * Bug Bug:105113 was a request to detect this prior to performing any updates.
 * Bug Bug:312491 was a request to report to the user when running out of disk space.

This error is self-explanatory.
{{{
Unpacking replacement perl-base ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/perl-base_5.10.0-11.1ubuntu2.2_i386.deb (--unpack):
 failed in buffer_write(fd) (10, ret=-1): backend dpkg-deb during `./usr/lib/perl/5.10.0/IO.pm': No space left on device
}}}

''Note about localized error message:''<<BR>>
Despite the fact that there is no ambiguity regarding the cause of the failure, finding this error in the log is not always easy because the error string has been localized. Checking for the strings `--unpack` and `buffer_write` in the error log is a good indication too.

=== DbDriver "config" is locked ===

 * Bug Bug:349469
 * Bug Bug:377211

{{{
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
}}}

`fuser -v` will return the locking process if any. Kill it and try performing the upgrade again. Most often, this is only a transient situation and fuser will return nothing. Simply performing the update again should solve this issue.
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How to recognise common issues arising from hardware failures, common feature requests and other invalid bugs for this category. Advice how triage them and stock responses.

= Also see =

 * DebuggingProcedures		 Common issues arising from hardware failures, common invalid bugs for this category.

=== Segmentation Fault - Exit status 139 ===

 * Bug Bug:493572
 * Bug Bug:478841

If the installation failed with no reason with an `exit status 139`, that the configuration script is trivial and there is no other report of this kind for that package, then this is very likely a memory corruption error.

The error from the term.log will show something like this:
{{{
Setting up python-dateutil (1.4.1-2) ...
Segmentation fault
dpkg: error processing python-dateutil (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 139
}}}

There is not much we can do except the advice below:

||<tablestyle="background-color: #eee">Thanks for your report.<<BR>><<BR>>This looks like a hardware issue. Could you run memtest on your system? (boot a live CD / USB key and select test memory)||

The reporter will most of the time says that the test reports error. If so, then close the report.

= Other resources =
 * [[KernelTeam/DebuggingUpdateErrors|Kernel specific errors]]
 * [[DebuggingUpdateManager|Debugging Update manager]]

= TODO =
 * Add note about localized messages in log file and method to process those reports
 * Search for master reports, complete missing references in wiki and cross-reference report/wiki content
 * Add section 'How to triage' and merge the one from DebuggingUpdateManager
 * Add missing descriptions & workaround
 * Add section with common install/upgrade issues for specific packages ? only provide list of report + description ?
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CategoryDebugging

Debugging Central

This page is part of the debugging series — pages with debugging details for a variety of Ubuntu packages.

Introduction

This page lists some general issues that users might encounter while performing updates of their system. Apport will usually detect these failures and file a bug in Launchpad. These bugs can be identified by the bug tag 'apport-package' and can occur on nearly any package.

There are usually log file attached to the report which differs depending on the kind of install/upgrade:

  • Package install/upgrade: DpkgTerminalLog

  • Distribution upgrade: VarLogDistupgradeMain and VarLogDistupgradeApttermlog

Detailed informations about debugging updatemanager can be found at DebuggingUpdateManager.

Documented below are the most commonly reported issues. For each case there is a description and a sample report and when applicable there is a workaround or fix and the master report it should be marked a duplicate of.

Known issues

Corrupted package archive

These errors indicates a corrupted archive (.deb or files on disk) The root cause of the corruption may be a bad network connection, faulty hardware, hardware shutdown,...

For those report the common workaround and stock response is:

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that there was an error caused by a corrupted archive. Please execute the following commands, as it will clear your package cache, in a terminal ( Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal ) :

sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update

Then try performing the update again. This will likely resolve your issue. If so please set the bug's status to Invalid. Thanks in advance!

Not a Debian format archive

  • Bug : provide a master report

This error indicated that the header of the .deb archive is not recognized as a valid debian format. 

dpkg-deb: `/var/cache/apt/archives/libswscale0_4%3a0.5+svn20090706-2ubuntu2_i386.deb' is not a debian format archive 
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libswscale0_4%3a0.5+svn20090706-2ubuntu2_i386.deb (--unpack): 
 subprocess dpkg-deb --control returned error exit status 2

Corrupted filesystem tarfile

Unpacking libaccess-bridge-java (from .../libaccess-bridge-java_1.24.0-0ubuntu2_all.deb) ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libaccess-bridge-java_1.24.0-0ubuntu2_all.deb (--unpack):
 corrupted filesystem tarfile - corrupted package archive
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)

--fsys-tarfile

  • Bug : provide a master report 

Unpacking replacement audacity-data ...
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/audacity-data_1.3.7-2ubuntu1_all.deb (--unpack):
 subprocess dpkg-deb --fsys-tarfile returned error exit status 2
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/audacity-data_1.3.7-2ubuntu1_all.deb

short read - Input/output error

  • Bug : provide a master report

An input/output error is likely to mean filesystem corruption, hardware problems or no space left on hard disk. The typical errors are: 

Unpacking linux-image-2.6.27-11-generic (from .../linux-image-2.6.27-11-generic_2.6.27-11.24_i386.deb) ...
Done.
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-2.6.27-11-generic_2.6.27-11.24_i386.deb (--unpack):
 short read in buffer_copy (backend dpkg-deb during `./lib/modules/2.6.27-11-generic/kernel/drivers/infiniband/core/ib_uverbs.ko')

or 

Unpacking replacement libfreetype6 ...
dpkg-deb (subprocess): error in buffer_read(stream): failed to write to pipe in copy: Input/output error
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste returned error exit status 2
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libfreetype6_2.3.9-4ubuntu0.1_i386.deb (--unpack):
 short read in buffer_copy (backend dpkg-deb during `./usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6.3.20')

The suggestion is to run a manual fsck and look whether the hard drive or storage device is operating correctly (dmesg may contain helpful information too)

TODO: Write a standard response

Exec format error

This error indicates that the installation or removal script is corrupted. It is caused by a sudden system failure during dpkg operation (power failure, hardware failure, ...) on filesystems supporting delayed allocation (like ext4, xfs, btrfs, ...)

Empty files or files filed with garbage are left on the hard drive. The file causing the dpkg error is one of /var/lib/dpkg/info/PACKAGE_NAME.p*

This error can occur either during installation or removal of the package.

During installation of a package 

Setting up flashplugin-installer (10.0.32.18ubuntu1) ...
dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute installed post-installation script: Exec format error
dpkg: error processing flashplugin-installer (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2

During removal of a package 

Removing gnome-do ...
dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute installed pre-removal script: Exec format error
dpkg: error processing gnome-do (--purge):
 subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2

Workaround A: Finish the install

sudo apt-get clean
sudo aptitude download python-libvirt
sudo dpkg --unpack ./python-libvirt*.deb
sudo dpkg --configure python-libvirt

Workaround B: Remove the package and reinstall

sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/info/flashplugin-installer.{postinst,prerm,postrm}
sudo apt-get remove --purge flashplugin-installer
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update

Then reinstall the package

Note: Change the package by the one which failed (check the log file)

Note about localized error message:
Finding this error in the log is not always easy because the error string has been localized.

  • Erreur de format pour exec()
  • Error de formato ejecutable
  • Errore di formato di exec
  • Exec format error
  • Formatfel på körbar fil
  • Érvénytelen végrehajtható fájlformátum
  • Exec formátum hiba
  • Verkeerd uitvoerbaar bestand
  • Exec 格式错误

triggers ci file contains unknown directive syntax

This is the same kind of issue than the one above. It means that the trigger file is empty or corrupted. The file is /var/lib/dpkg/info/PACKAGE.triggers This error can occur during installation or removal of a package.

During installation of a package 

Setting up ureadahead (0.90.3-2) ...
dpkg: error processing ureadahead (--configure):
 triggers ci file contains unknown directive syntax

Workaround

remove the file /var/lib/dpkg/info/PACKAGE.triggers
sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/info/PACKAGE.triggers
and run
sudo dpkg --purge ureadahead
then clean your cache
sudo apt-get clean
and try performing the install of ureadahead again.

lzma : decoder error

  • Bug : provide a master report 

Unpacking openjdk-6-jre-lib (from .../openjdk-6-jre-lib_6b12-0ubuntu6_all.deb) ...
lzma: Decoder error
dpkg-deb: subprocess <decompress> returned error exit status 1
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/openjdk-6-jre-lib_6b12-0ubuntu6_all.deb (--unpack):
 short read in buffer_copy (backend dpkg-deb during `./usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/lib/ext/localedata.jar')

files list file missing final newline / contains empty filename

This error indicates that the file /var/lib/dpkg/info/PACKAGE_NAME.list is corrupted ( empty or full of garbage ) The reason may be a disk error, a memory error, a process being interrupted during unpack, ...

Typically these errors take the form :
files list file for package packagename contains empty filename
or
files list file for package packagename is missing final newline

Selecting previously deselected package linux-source-2.6.27.
(Reading database ... dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-source-2.6.27_2.6.27-9.19_all.deb (--unpack):
 files list file for package `libpoppler-glib3' is missing final newline

Workaround: Recreate the file list from .deb
This can be fixed, with a little work. If you have the .deb file for the offending package currently available on your system, then check its integrity by running:
dpkg --contents /var/cache/apt/archive/libgnome2-0_2.24.1-0ubuntu3_i386.deb
or get a .deb file by running :
sudo apt-get install --reinstall --download-only libgnome2-0

Once you have a valid .deb file, then you can reconstitute the file. First become root by using sudo -s (enter your administrative user password if necessary), and then use the following command (copy/paste and change the package name accordingly):

dpkg -c /var/cache/apt/archive/libgnome2-0_2.24.1-0ubuntu3_i386.deb | awk \
{if ($6 == "./") { print "/."; } \
else if (substr($6, length($6), 1) == "/") \
{print substr($6, 2, length($6) - 2); } \
else { print substr($6, 2, length($6) - 1);}}' \
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/libgnome2-0.list

Inconsistent state

Package in bad inconsistent state

  • Bug : provide a master report 

Removing flashplugin-nonfree ...
dpkg: error processing flashplugin-installer (--purge):
 Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should
 reinstall it before attempting a removal.

Workaround A:

Please open a Terminal from the menu Applications->Accessories->Terminal and type or copy and paste the row below:

sudo apt-get --reinstall install cupsys
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get -f install

give your user password when requested, you don't see nothing when you type it, then press enter.

Workaround B:

Try the command below to purge the offending packages :
sudo dpkg --purge --force-remove-reinstreq flashplugin-installer flashplugin-nonfree

Then to reinstall :
sudo apt-get install flashplugin-installer

package is already installed and configured

  • Bug : provide a master report 

dpkg: error processing language-pack-ar (--configure):
 package language-pack-ar is already installed and configured

Workaround A:

sudo dpkg --configure -a

Workaround B:

apt-get install --reinstall language-pack-ar

Other issues

Can't access archive

  • Bug : provide a master report 

dpkg: error processing /media/cdrom0//pool/main/g/gcc-4.4/libstdc++6-4.4-dev_4.4.1-4ubuntu8_i386.deb (--unpack):
 cannot access archive: No such file or directory
dpkg: error processing /media/cdrom0//pool/main/g/gcc-4.4/g++-4.4_4.4.1-4ubuntu8_i386.deb (--unpack):
 cannot access archive: No such file or directory

No space left on device

  • Bug 105113 was a request to detect this prior to performing any updates.

  • Bug 312491 was a request to report to the user when running out of disk space.

This error is self-explanatory. 

Unpacking replacement perl-base ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/perl-base_5.10.0-11.1ubuntu2.2_i386.deb (--unpack):
 failed in buffer_write(fd) (10, ret=-1): backend dpkg-deb during `./usr/lib/perl/5.10.0/IO.pm': No space left on device

Note about localized error message:
Despite the fact that there is no ambiguity regarding the cause of the failure, finding this error in the log is not always easy because the error string has been localized. Checking for the strings --unpack and buffer_write in the error log is a good indication too.

DbDriver "config" is locked

debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable

fuser -v will return the locking process if any. Kill it and try performing the upgrade again. Most often, this is only a transient situation and fuser will return nothing. Simply performing the update again should solve this issue.

Non-bugs

Common issues arising from hardware failures, common invalid bugs for this category.

Segmentation Fault - Exit status 139

If the installation failed with no reason with an exit status 139, that the configuration script is trivial and there is no other report of this kind for that package, then this is very likely a memory corruption error.

The error from the term.log will show something like this: 

Setting up python-dateutil (1.4.1-2) ...
Segmentation fault
dpkg: error processing python-dateutil (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 139

There is not much we can do except the advice below:

Thanks for your report.

This looks like a hardware issue. Could you run memtest on your system? (boot a live CD / USB key and select test memory)

The reporter will most of the time says that the test reports error. If so, then close the report.

Other resources

TODO

  • Add note about localized messages in log file and method to process those reports
  • Search for master reports, complete missing references in wiki and cross-reference report/wiki content

  • Add section 'How to triage' and merge the one from DebuggingUpdateManager

  • Add missing descriptions & workaround

  • Add section with common install/upgrade issues for specific packages ? only provide list of report + description ?

CategoryBugSquad CategoryDebugging

DebuggingInstallationIssues (last edited 2014-11-17 18:12:57 by mail)