cannot remove two packages with apt-get

Hystoriker · 05-10-2009, 01:35 AM

I have tried to install some packages among others gettext and comerr-dev. When I did, there were some problems in the configuration process and as a result i cannot use apt-get anymore, because it tries to configure the two programs first before installing or deinstalling any other programs.

I have already tried to

Code:

sudo apt-get install -f

but the process cannot be finished.

The output is

Code:

matthias@matthiasLinux:~$ sudo apt-get install -f
Paketlisten werden gelesen... Fertig
Abhängigkeitsbaum wird aufgebaut
Lese Status-Informationen ein... Fertig
0 aktualisiert, 0 neu installiert, 0 zu entfernen und 0 nicht aktualisiert.
2 nicht vollständig installiert oder entfernt.
Nach dieser Operation werden 0B Plattenplatz zusätzlich benutzt.
Richte gettext ein (0.17-6ubuntu2) ...
install-info: No dir file specified; try --help for more information.
dpkg: Fehler beim Bearbeiten von gettext (--configure):
 Unterprozess post-installation script gab den Fehlerwert 1 zurück
Richte comerr-dev ein (2.1-1.41.4-1ubuntu1) ...
install-info: No dir file specified; try --help for more information.
dpkg: Fehler beim Bearbeiten von comerr-dev (--configure):
 Unterprozess post-installation script gab den Fehlerwert 1 zurück
Fehler traten auf beim Bearbeiten von:
 gettext
 comerr-dev
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Sorry for the German, i have tried to translate it here: http://paste.ubuntu.com/168156/

Entering

Code:

dpkg --configure -a

doesn't return anything. But the problem remains.

Can anybody help?

ajlewis2 · 05-10-2009, 10:12 AM

Does 'apt-get check' tell you anything?

Does 'apt-get remove gettext' do anything? How about with an '-f' in it?

I would also try using a gui front end to unselect those packages and see if that works. I know this can be done with CLI, but I don't know how.

Hystoriker · 05-11-2009, 07:02 AM

Thanx ajlewis2 for your suggestions, alas they do not solve the problem.

Quote:

Does 'apt-get check' tell you anything?

It does tell me nothing but that it reads the list of packages and sets the status information. There seems to be no problem.

Quote:

Does 'apt-get remove gettext' do anything? How about with an '-f' in it?

Both times it tries to remove the program, but it has problems:

Code:

install-info: No dir file specified; try --help for more information.
dpkg: error when working on gettext (--remove):
 Subprocess pre-removal script returned error code 1
install-info: No dir file specified; try --help for more information.
dpkg: error while cleaning-up
 Subprocess post-installation script returned error code 1

(my translation)

ajlewis2 · 05-11-2009, 09:14 AM

I googled and found something about the postinst script that may be the problem. Here is the link I looked at: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...ux/+bug/289997

Look for gettext.postinst in /var/lib/dpkg/info

See if you have the directory that is the line for install-info. For example mine looks like this:
=================
#!/bin/sh
set -e
install-info --quiet --section "Development" "Development" \
--description="" /usr/share/info/gettext.info

if [ "$1" = "configure" ]; then
ldconfig
fi
=================

I do have /usr/share/info directory.

Hystoriker · 05-11-2009, 01:05 PM

Thank you very much for your effort. I have decided to reinstall my whole system after trying many things that did not work out. I did not try your solution, though, thus it might have helped.

Thanks again!