Unable to update some packages

[vmalep]

Hi everybody,

Since a few days, I am experiencing error when updating packages. My system is Linux Mint 9 running with Gnome.

I tried deleting the /var/cache/apt/archives/*.deb files, but to no avail.

Any suggestion would be most welcome.


Update:
I tried removing dpkg-dev, but it didn't work. I copy-paste the new output:

Code: Select all

Reading package lists... Done
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
  dpkg-dev
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
8 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0B/49.3MB of archives.
After this operation, 0B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!
  dpkg-dev debhelper openoffice.org-common openoffice.org-core openoffice.org-base
Authentication warning overridden.
Preconfiguring packages ...
(Reading database ... 164798 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace dpkg-dev 1.15.5.6ubuntu4 (using .../dpkg-dev_1.15.5.6ubuntu4.1_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement dpkg-dev ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/dpkg-dev_1.15.5.6ubuntu4.1_all.deb (--unpack):
 unable to install (supposed) new info file `/var/lib/dpkg/tmp.ci/conffiles': Is a directory
Preparing to replace debhelper 7.4.15ubuntu1 (using .../debhelper_7.4.15ubuntu1_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement debhelper ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/debhelper_7.4.15ubuntu1_all.deb (--unpack):
 unable to install (supposed) new info file `/var/lib/dpkg/tmp.ci/md5sums': Is a directory
Preparing to replace openoffice.org-common 1:3.2.0-7ubuntu4.1 (using .../openoffice.org-common_1%3a3.2.0-7ubuntu4.1_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement openoffice.org-common ...
dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute old post-removal script: Exec format error
dpkg: warning: old post-removal script returned error exit status 2
dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
dpkg: ... it looks like that went OK.
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/openoffice.org-common_1%3a3.2.0-7ubuntu4.1_all.deb (--unpack):
 unable to install (supposed) new info file `/var/lib/dpkg/tmp.ci/templates': Is a directory
Preparing to replace openoffice.org-core 1:3.2.0-7ubuntu4.1 (using .../openoffice.org-core_1%3a3.2.0-7ubuntu4.1_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement openoffice.org-core ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/openoffice.org-core_1%3a3.2.0-7ubuntu4.1_i386.deb (--unpack):
 unable to install (supposed) new info file `/var/lib/dpkg/tmp.ci/md5sums': Is a directory
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              Preparing to replace openoffice.org-base 1:3.2.0-7ubuntu4.1 (using .../openoffice.org-base_1%3a3.2.0-7ubuntu4.1_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement openoffice.org-base ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/openoffice.org-base_1%3a3.2.0-7ubuntu4.1_i386.deb (--unpack):
 unable to install (supposed) new info file `/var/lib/dpkg/tmp.ci/md5sums': Is a directory
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              Processing triggers for man-db ...
Processing triggers for mintsystem ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme ...
Processing triggers for shared-mime-info ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Processing triggers for python-gmenu ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/desktop.en_US.utf8.cache...
Processing triggers for menu ...
Processing triggers for python-support ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/dpkg-dev_1.15.5.6ubuntu4.1_all.deb
 /var/cache/apt/archives/debhelper_7.4.15ubuntu1_all.deb
 /var/cache/apt/archives/openoffice.org-common_1%3a3.2.0-7ubuntu4.1_all.deb
 /var/cache/apt/archives/openoffice.org-core_1%3a3.2.0-7ubuntu4.1_i386.deb
 /var/cache/apt/archives/openoffice.org-base_1%3a3.2.0-7ubuntu4.1_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)


Obviously, the problem is linked to the warning message:

Code: Select all

WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!
  dpkg-dev debhelper openoffice.org-common openoffice.org-core openoffice.org-base

Of course, I ran apt-get update after having checked that /etc/apt/sources.list file is the original one...

I also noticed that the /var/lib/dpkg/info folder contains dead symlinks. Ttf and jar files.

For example:

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lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      23 2010-06-09 10:58 uno-libs3.shlibs -> Verdana_Bold_Italic.ttf
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      12 2010-06-09 10:58 uno-libs3.symbols -> Webdings.ttf
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      18 2010-06-09 10:58 ure.md5sums -> Verdana_Italic.ttf
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      28 2010-06-09 10:58 ure.postinst -> Trebuchet_MS_Bold_Italic.ttf
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      16 2010-06-09 10:58 ure.postrm -> Verdana_Bold.ttf
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      11 2010-06-09 10:58 ure.preinst -> Verdana.ttf
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      23 2010-06-09 10:58 ure.shlibs -> Trebuchet_MS_Italic.ttf
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      21 2010-06-09 10:58 ure.templates -> Trebuchet_MS_Bold.ttf
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      43 2010-06-05 16:21 x11proto-xext-dev.md5sums -> ../../../../../java/slf4j-simple-1.5.10.jar


Seems to be a weird problem...

Thanks for any help!
Pierre

[Erinsfan]

It seems to me the error is:

Code: Select all

No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already


Have a read of this bug which may help you.

Erin

[vmalep]

Thanks for this reply.

However, I am not referring to a distribution upgrade, as it seems to be the case in the bug you are mentioning. Or did I miss something in your reply?

Best regards,
Pierre

[vmalep]

I found this post: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1150289

It did stop the error message and allowed to update the packages. However, Openoffice.org was still not working, showing an error message:

/var/spool/openoffice/uno_packages/cache/uno_packages/mPL2IW_/pdfimport.oxt does not exist.

. I still have to find out. It may be simply due to an missing pdfimport package actually. However, I first tried reinstalling OpenOffice.org, then uninstalling it, and the apt-get error messages reappeared.

I then decided to recreate the /var/lib/dpkg/info folder (https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-us-ma/2007-August/000218.html), which is currently in progress... And to backup my files, because I start wondering if my system is not deeply corrupted now...

BR
Pierre

[vmalep]

The problem is not yet solved. I had removed and purged openoffice.org packages, including their /var/lib/dpkg/info/* files and installed the meta package openoffice.org (not Ubuntu authenticated). Trying to remove that one to install the default openoffice.org packages, I got the following error:

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vmalep@vmalep-laptop:~$ sudo apt-get --purge remove openoffice.org
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  openoffice.org-core openoffice.org-writer openoffice.org-impress
  openoffice.org-filter-mobiledev ttf-sil-gentium openoffice.org-draw
  openoffice.org-filter-binfilter openoffice.org-java-common
  openoffice.org-report-builder-bin openoffice.org-style-galaxy
  openoffice.org-math ttf-sil-gentium-basic openoffice.org-common python-uno
  openoffice.org-base-core openoffice.org-officebean openoffice.org-emailmerge
  openoffice.org-base openoffice.org-calc
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  openoffice.org*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 45.1kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
(Reading database ... 60%dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error, aborting:
 files list file for package `dmz-cursor-theme' contains empty filename
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)

[Erinsfan]

I would purge and remove "dmz-cursor-theme" then re-install the package. Can you report your results here.

Thanks, Erin

[vmalep]

Update:
Trying further, I moved back the old /var/lib/dpkg/info folder and this time, I could remove --purge and reinstall dmz-cursor-theme without problem. Apt-get also seems to work fine now.

Openoffice.org still doesn't work with the same error message about missing pdfimport.oxt. I installed openoffice.org-pdfimport, but this doesn't fix the error message.

BR
Pierre

Hi Erin,

Thanks for the propoal. Here is the output:

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vmalep@vmalep-laptop:~$ sudo apt-get --purge remove dmz-cursor-theme
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  dmz-cursor-theme*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 3,604kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
(Reading database ... 5%dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error, aborting:
 files list file for package `openoffice.org-writer' contains empty filename
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)
vmalep@vmalep-laptop:~$ cd /var/lib/dpkg/info
vmalep@vmalep-laptop:/var/lib/dpkg/info$ sudo rm dmz-cursor-theme.*
vmalep@vmalep-laptop:/var/lib/dpkg/info$ sudo apt-get --purge remove dmz-cursor-theme
E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'sudo dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem.
vmalep@vmalep-laptop:/var/lib/dpkg/info$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
vmalep@vmalep-laptop:/var/lib/dpkg/info$ sudo apt-get --purge remove dmz-cursor-theme
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  dmz-cursor-theme*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 3,604kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
(Reading database ...
dpkg: warning: files list file for package `dmz-cursor-theme' missing, assuming package has no files currently installed.
(Reading database ... 60%dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error, aborting:
 files list file for package `dnsutils' contains empty filename
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)


Do you have a better idea how to remove this package?
And why do you think this package could be involved in the problem?

Thanks for you support!
Pierre

[vmalep]

Trying to remove --purge openoffice.org packages, I again got plenty of apt-get error messages and I start being tired of this mess. I am thus going to reinstall the all system.

I have to say I have been using GNU/Linux for many years and I had not experienced such kind of problem since a long time... So, I am probably going to move back to Ubuntu.

Thanks anyway,
Pierre

[Erinsfan]

Salut Pierre,

Mint is worth sticking with and I am not sure it is a pure Mint problem. Ask in the Ubuntu forum and someone there should be able to help.

Cordialement, Erin

[vmalep]

Hi Erin,

I believe you are right when saying it is not a Mint problem and I eventually reinstalled Mint.

Thanks anyway for your help!
Pierre