I changed from Warty to Hoary in Ubuntu and since have had a strange error come up when I use "apt-get install" the error reads as follows:

nasti@nasti:/etc/X11 $ sudo apt-get -f install fglrx-control
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
fglrx-control is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 9 not upgraded.
7 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0B of archives.
After unpacking 0B of additional disk space will be used.
Setting up postfix (2.1.5-6ubuntu2) ...

Postfix configuration was untouched. If you need to make changes, edit
/etc/postfix/main.cf (and others) as needed. To view Postfix configuration
values, see postconf(1).

After modifying main.cf, be sure to run '/etc/init.d/postfix reload'.

Running newaliases
* Starting Postfix Mail Transport Agent...
*stfix/postfix-script: fatal: the Postfix mail system is already running[fail]
invoke-rc.d: initscript postfix, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error processing postfix (--configure):
subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mailx:
mailx depends on exim4 | mail-transport-agent; however:
Package exim4 is not installed.
Package mail-transport-agent is not installed.
Package postfix which provides mail-transport-agent is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing mailx (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mutt:
mutt depends on exim4 | mail-transport-agent; however:
Package exim4 is not installed.
Package mail-transport-agent is not installed.
Package postfix which provides mail-transport-agent is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing mutt (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of anacron:
anacron depends on exim4 | mail-transport-agent; however:
Package exim4 is not installed.
Package mail-transport-agent is not installed.
Package postfix which provides mail-transport-agent is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing anacron (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of popularity-contest:
popularity-contest depends on exim4 | mail-transport-agent; however:
Package exim4 is not installed.
Package mail-transport-agent is not installed.
Package postfix which provides mail-transport-agent is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing popularity-contest (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of postfix-tls:
postfix-tls depends on postfix; however:
Package postfix is not configured yet.
postfix-tls depends on postfix (= 2.1.5-6ubuntu2); however:
Package postfix is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing postfix-tls (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of lsb:
lsb depends on exim4 | mail-transport-agent; however:
Package exim4 is not installed.
Package mail-transport-agent is not installed.
Package postfix which provides mail-transport-agent is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing lsb (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
postfix
mailx
mutt
anacron
popularity-contest
postfix-tls
lsb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)


Any help is appreciated.

It looks like you have some packages that aren't configured yet in there that block the rest.

Try

"dpkg --pending --configure"

Tried dpkg --pending --configure, this is the result:

root@nasti:~ # dpkg --pending --configure
Setting up postfix (2.1.5-6ubuntu2) ...

Postfix configuration was untouched. If you need to make changes, edit
/etc/postfix/main.cf (and others) as needed. To view Postfix configuration
values, see postconf(1).

After modifying main.cf, be sure to run '/etc/init.d/postfix reload'.

Running newaliases
* Starting Postfix Mail Transport Agent...
*stfix/postfix-script: fatal: the Postfix mail system is already running[fail]
invoke-rc.d: initscript postfix, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error processing postfix (--configure):
subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of anacron:
anacron depends on exim4 | mail-transport-agent; however:
Package exim4 is not installed.
Package mail-transport-agent is not installed.
Package postfix which provides mail-transport-agent is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing anacron (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of postfix-tls:
postfix-tls depends on postfix; however:
Package postfix is not configured yet.
postfix-tls depends on postfix (= 2.1.5-6ubuntu2); however:
Package postfix is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing postfix-tls (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of lsb:
lsb depends on exim4 | mail-transport-agent; however:
Package exim4 is not installed.
Package mail-transport-agent is not installed.
Package postfix which provides mail-transport-agent is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing lsb (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of popularity-contest:
popularity-contest depends on exim4 | mail-transport-agent; however:
Package exim4 is not installed.
Package mail-transport-agent is not installed.
Package postfix which provides mail-transport-agent is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing popularity-contest (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mutt:
mutt depends on exim4 | mail-transport-agent; however:
Package exim4 is not installed.
Package mail-transport-agent is not installed.
Package postfix which provides mail-transport-agent is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing mutt (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mailx:
mailx depends on exim4 | mail-transport-agent; however:
Package exim4 is not installed.
Package mail-transport-agent is not installed.
Package postfix which provides mail-transport-agent is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing mailx (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
postfix
anacron
postfix-tls
lsb
popularity-contest
mutt
mailx

How about running

"apt-get install -f"

That should fix dependencie problems by downloading the missing packages.

When "apt-get install -f" is run:

root@user:~ # apt-get install -f
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 2 not upgraded.
7 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0B of archives.
After unpacking 0B of additional disk space will be used.
Setting up postfix (2.1.5-6ubuntu2) ...

Postfix configuration was untouched. If you need to make changes, edit
/etc/postfix/main.cf (and others) as needed. To view Postfix configuration
values, see postconf(1).

After modifying main.cf, be sure to run '/etc/init.d/postfix reload'.

Running newaliases
* Starting Postfix Mail Transport Agent...
*stfix/postfix-script: fatal: the Postfix mail system is already running[fail]
invoke-rc.d: initscript postfix, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error processing postfix (--configure):
subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mailx:
mailx depends on exim4 | mail-transport-agent; however:
Package exim4 is not installed.
Package mail-transport-agent is not installed.
Package postfix which provides mail-transport-agent is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing mailx (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mutt:
mutt depends on exim4 | mail-transport-agent; however:
Package exim4 is not installed.
Package mail-transport-agent is not installed.
Package postfix which provides mail-transport-agent is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing mutt (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of anacron:
anacron depends on exim4 | mail-transport-agent; however:
Package exim4 is not installed.
Package mail-transport-agent is not installed.
Package postfix which provides mail-transport-agent is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing anacron (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of popularity-contest:
popularity-contest depends on exim4 | mail-transport-agent; however:
Package exim4 is not installed.
Package mail-transport-agent is not installed.
Package postfix which provides mail-transport-agent is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing popularity-contest (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of postfix-tls:
postfix-tls depends on postfix; however:
Package postfix is not configured yet.
postfix-tls depends on postfix (= 2.1.5-6ubuntu2); however:
Package postfix is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing postfix-tls (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of lsb:
lsb depends on exim4 | mail-transport-agent; however:
Package exim4 is not installed.
Package mail-transport-agent is not installed.
Package postfix which provides mail-transport-agent is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing lsb (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
postfix
mailx
mutt
anacron
popularity-contest
postfix-tls
lsb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Have you tried to do

"apt-get install packagename"

On the packages that show up as not installed now. Like these:
Package exim4 is not installed.
Package mail-transport-agent is not installed.

'exim4' installed; however 'mail-transport-agent' would not, here is what happened:


root@user:~ # apt-get install mail-transport-agent
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
Package mail-transport-agent is a virtual package provided by:
zmailer 2.99.56-2
xmail 1.20-5
ssmtp 2.61-1
smail 3.2.0.115-5.1
sendmail-bin 8.13.2-1
nullmailer 1.00RC7-22
masqmail 0.2.20-1
exim 3.36-11
esmtp-run 0.5.0-4
courier-mta 0.47-3ubuntu1
postfix 2.1.5-6ubuntu2
exim4-daemon-light 4.34-10
exim4-daemon-heavy 4.34-10
You should explicitly select one to install.
E: Package mail-transport-agent has no installation candidate

Just like it said, by downloading any one of the listed packages you will get the needed package. See if you prefer one to another and otherwise I'd say just download one.

hello together

Iàm suffering from the same problem - I did first "apt-get update" and then "apt-get upgrade"; after downloading a lot of stuff via dsl for more than one hour the following problem comes up, which seems to be related pretty tight to what has been discussed before - but I still have no real solution on that; who can help ??? - I`am not so experienced as an debian-admin.


Fetched 225MB in 1h27m44s (42.8kB/s)
Preconfiguring packages ...
dpkg: parse error, in file `/var/lib/dpkg/status' near line 17620 package `bluez-cups':
missing version
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)

The file mentioned seems to be the file that contains the packages you have (had) installed. There seems to be an error in a package. I'm not sure how to fix it but I'd say deleting that package out of the file and then install it again might work. It won't stop because of the missing version number like it does now. I don't think it'll do any harm, it didn't when I tried but don't hold me on that.

Only delete all the info from that one package!

thanks for that

Did it work?

I am out of home on businesstravel and will try it at weekend - afterwards I will tell you if works

For cnastiuk:

I had the same problem did some googling and spotted your post. There seems to be a problem in the update scripts for hoary regarding to postfix. From the first few lines you can tell that the system does not seem to think that postfix needs be updated. Then when running newaliases it tries to start postfix finds that it is started already and fails. This failure propagates to related packages which are informed that postfix is not configured (which it actually is).

A simple fix which worked for me; simply stop postfix and then fix dependencies. That is (as root):

$ /etc/init.d/postfix stop
$ apt-get -f install

Postfix will be started again when running the last command.