Hi

my system is a IBM X20, Debian, Kernel 2.4.25

I've tried to install a binary package for my Winmodem via dpkg.
Got it from 'heby.de/ltmodem'
Apparently got the wrong version there.
Then, as it wasn't istalling, wanted to remove it.

tried it with 'dselect', 'apt-get -f install', and
'dpkg --force-remove-reinstreq -r ltmodem-2.6.8-1-686'

But I have no luck. Whatever I'm doing, dpkg says:

**************************
dpkg -i --force-overwrite ltmodem-2.6.8-1-686_8.31a8_i386.deb
(Reading database ... 25882 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace ltmodem-2.6.8-1-686 8.31a8 (using ltmodem-2.6.8-1-686_8.31a8_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement ltmodem-2.6.8-1-686 ...

Could not identify your distribution's way of automatically loading modules,
Exiting.

dpkg: warning - old post-removal script returned error exit status 1
dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...

Could not identify your distribution's way of automatically loading modules,
Exiting.

dpkg: error processing ltmodem-2.6.8-1-686_8.31a8_i386.deb (--install):
subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 1

Could not identify your distribution's way of automatically loading modules,
Exiting.

dpkg: error while cleaning up:
subprocess post-removal script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
ltmodem-2.6.8-1-686_8.31a8_i386.deb
**************************

Now I cannot remove it nor reinstall it.

I've even tried to tweak the files:

/var/lib/dpkg/info/ltmodem-2.6.8-1-686.postrm
/var/lib/dpkg/info/ltmodem-2.6.8-1-686.postinst

by commenting the error-producing lines out, but then the process freezes.

any help or hint would be appreciated. Thanks

-danu

well, after a long night i hope to have it solved by editing the scripts in
/var/lib/dpkg/info/*.postins and *.postrm
At least no more errors on using apt and dpkg.

-> can I now remove these scripts
and are there any orphan files around I should care about?

-danu

Danu,

If you can remember after so long, would you be so kind as to let me know how you edited var/lib/dpkg/info/ltmodem-2.6.8-1-686.postrm and /var/lib/dpkg/info/ltmodem-2.6.8-1-686.postinst so as to stop dpkg exiting the install.

Thanks

dear bayard

I'm terribly sorry but can't remember anymore, what lines exactly I've edited in order to run the script properly.
And I've never used the modem, not before nor since then, I'm sorry.

Hope you are successful!

-danu

Danu, thanks for replying. In the end I solved the problem by making sure that none of the possible files that the post-install script was checking for were absent, even though some were simply touched.