[Gllug] apt/dpkg woes

[Tethys]

I'm having a most unpleasant time with my fresh Ubuntu install.

I did a base install. Then nce I'd got it connected to the
net, I tried to install bind9 with apt-get. For reasons I'm
not entirely sure about, it failed, complaining about not
being able to run a post-removal script for reiser4progs
(claiming permission denied). Unfortunately, the exact error
message has disappeared off the top of my scrollback buffer.

It seems I have managed to corrupt my dpkg database[1] :-(
I tried "apt-get -f install" to try and fix it, but to no avail:

: Reading package lists...
: Building dependency tree...
: Correcting dependencies...Done
: The following extra packages will be installed:
:   bind9 libdns21 libisc11 libisccc0 libisccfg1
: Suggested packages:
:   bind9-doc
: The following packages will be upgraded:
:   bind9 libdns21 libisc11 libisccc0 libisccfg1
: 5 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 35 not upgraded.
: 6 not fully installed or removed.
: Need to get 0B/1783kB of archives.
: After unpacking 737kB of additional disk space will be used.
: Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Preconfiguring packages ...
: (Reading database ... 
: dpkg: serious warning: files list file for package `bind9' missing, assuming package has no files currently installed.
: 12367 files and directories currently installed.)
: Preparing to replace reiser4progs 1.0.5-1 (using .../reiser4progs_1.0.5-1_sparc.deb) ...
: Unpacking replacement reiser4progs ...
: dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute old post-removal script: Permission denied
: dpkg: warning - old post-removal script returned error exit status 2
: dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
: dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute new post-removal script: Permission denied
: dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/reiser4progs_1.0.5-1_sparc.deb (--unpack):
:  subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 2
: dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute new post-removal script: Permission denied
: dpkg: error while cleaning up:
:  subprocess post-removal script returned error exit status 2
: Preparing to replace libisc11 1:9.3.2-2ubuntu1 (using .../libisc11_1%3a9.3.2-2ubuntu1.2_sparc.deb) ...
: Unpacking replacement libisc11 ...
: dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute old post-removal script: Permission denied
: dpkg: warning - old post-removal script returned error exit status 2
: dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
: dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute new post-removal script: Permission denied
: dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libisc11_1%3a9.3.2-2ubuntu1.2_sparc.deb (--unpack):
:  subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 2
: dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute new post-removal script: Permission denied
: dpkg: error while cleaning up:
:  subprocess post-removal script returned error exit status 2
: Preparing to replace libdns21 1:9.3.2-2ubuntu1 (using .../libdns21_1%3a9.3.2-2ubuntu1.2_sparc.deb) ...
: Unpacking replacement libdns21 ...
: dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute old post-removal script: Permission denied
: dpkg: warning - old post-removal script returned error exit status 2
: dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
: dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute new post-removal script: Permission denied
: dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libdns21_1%3a9.3.2-2ubuntu1.2_sparc.deb (--unpack):
:  subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 2
: dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute new post-removal script: Permission denied
: dpkg: error while cleaning up:
:  subprocess post-removal script returned error exit status 2
: Preparing to replace libisccc0 1:9.3.2-2ubuntu1 (using .../libisccc0_1%3a9.3.2-2ubuntu1.2_sparc.deb) ...
: Unpacking replacement libisccc0 ...
: dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute old post-removal script: Permission denied
: dpkg: warning - old post-removal script returned error exit status 2
: dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
: dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute new post-removal script: Permission denied
: dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libisccc0_1%3a9.3.2-2ubuntu1.2_sparc.deb (--unpack):
:  subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 2
: dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute new post-removal script: Permission denied
: dpkg: error while cleaning up:
:  subprocess post-removal script returned error exit status 2
: Preparing to replace libisccfg1 1:9.3.2-2ubuntu1 (using .../libisccfg1_1%3a9.3.2-2ubuntu1.2_sparc.deb) ...
: Unpacking replacement libisccfg1 ...
: dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute old post-removal script: Permission denied
: dpkg: warning - old post-removal script returned error exit status 2
: dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
: dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute new post-removal script: Permission denied
: dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libisccfg1_1%3a9.3.2-2ubuntu1.2_sparc.deb (--unpack):
:  subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 2
: dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute new post-removal script: Permission denied
: dpkg: error while cleaning up:
:  subprocess post-removal script returned error exit status 2
: Preparing to replace bind9 1:9.3.2-2ubuntu1.2 (using .../bind9_1%3a9.3.2-2ubuntu1.2_sparc.deb) ...
: dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute new pre-installation script: Permission denied
: dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/bind9_1%3a9.3.2-2ubuntu1.2_sparc.deb (--unpack):
:  subprocess pre-installation script returned error exit status 2
: dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute new post-removal script: Permission denied
: dpkg: error while cleaning up:
:  subprocess post-removal script returned error exit status 2
: Errors were encountered while processing:
:  /var/cache/apt/archives/reiser4progs_1.0.5-1_sparc.deb
:  /var/cache/apt/archives/libisc11_1%3a9.3.2-2ubuntu1.2_sparc.deb
:  /var/cache/apt/archives/libdns21_1%3a9.3.2-2ubuntu1.2_sparc.deb
:  /var/cache/apt/archives/libisccc0_1%3a9.3.2-2ubuntu1.2_sparc.deb
:  /var/cache/apt/archives/libisccfg1_1%3a9.3.2-2ubuntu1.2_sparc.deb
:  /var/cache/apt/archives/bind9_1%3a9.3.2-2ubuntu1.2_sparc.deb
: E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

So with the problem seeming to be with reiser4progs (which I had no
intention of using anyway):

: thorin:~# dpkg -r reiser4progs
: dpkg: error processing reiser4progs (--remove):
:  Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should
:  reinstall it before attempting a removal.
: Errors were encountered while processing:
:  reiser4progs
: thorin:~#
: thorin:~#
: thorin:~# apt-get install reiser4progs
: Reading package lists... Done
: Building dependency tree... Done
: reiser4progs is already the newest version.
: You might want to run ‘apt-get -f install’ to correct these:
: The following packages have unmet dependencies.
:   bind9: Depends: libdns21 (= 1:9.3.2-2ubuntu1.2) but 1:9.3.2-2ubuntu1 is to be installed
:          Depends: libisccfg1 (= 1:9.3.2-2ubuntu1.2) but 1:9.3.2-2ubuntu1 is to be installed
:          Depends: libisc11 (= 1:9.3.2-2ubuntu1.2) but 1:9.3.2-2ubuntu1 is to be installed
:          Depends: libisccc0 (= 1:9.3.2-2ubuntu1.2) but 1:9.3.2-2ubuntu1 is to be installed
: E: Unmet dependencies. Try ‘apt-get -f install’ with no packages (or specify a solution).

I'm now at a bit of a loss. Is there any way to get some more
verbosity from dpkg/apt, so I can work out what's failing, and
why I'm getting permission denied as root? How can I get to see
the scripts that are failing to run? As far as I can tell, selinux
isn't installed. There are no avc warnings in /var/log/messages,
and {get,set}enforce don't seem to be present. So why else would
I be getting permission denied errors as root?

Any ideas on a) what's going on, and b) what I can do to fix it?
How do I get reiser4progs either off the system or at least not
in "a very bad inconsistent state"?

This is with Ubuntu 6.06.

Tet

[1] It seems to be becoming a habit with me -- last time it
    happened, it was with RPM, and it kicked up quite a storm:
    https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=119185
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