packages passed to dpkg before being unpacked

[charles wanyama]

"crash problem" appears every now and then when i run several programs

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: language-pack-en 1:12.04+20120618
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-26.41-generic 3.2.19
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-26-generic i686
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu8
Architecture: i386
Date: Sun Jul 15 04:04:17 2012
ErrorMessage: package language-pack-en is already installed and configured
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release i386 (20120423)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: dpkg
Title: package language-pack-en 1:12.04+20120618 failed to install/upgrade: package language-pack-en is already installed and configured
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

From DpkgHistoryLog.txt:

apt-utils:i386 (0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10, 0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10.2)

so a fixed version of apt for bug 541595 was installed on this system.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Could you please add your /var/log/apt/term.log file to this bug report? Thanks in advance.

[Benjamin Williams (benjaminhwilliams)]

I have reported a duplicate of this bug. Although I am not the reporter of this bug, I thought my /var/log/apt/term.log may help you.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

apt is apparently passing names of packages to dpkg --configure for which the new version has not been unpacked yet, hence the error. Reassigning to apt.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Here is the relevant DpkgHistoryLog information for Benjamin:

Start-Date: 2012-08-09 13:57:46
Commandline: aptdaemon role='role-commit-packages' sender=':1.74'
Upgrade: libjavascriptcoregtk-3.0-0:amd64 (1.8.0-0ubuntu2, 1.8.1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1), libfreerdp-plugins-standard:amd64 (1.0.1-1ubuntu2, 1.0.1-1ubuntu2.1), libwebkitgtk-1.0-common:amd64 (1.8.0-0ubuntu2, 1.8.1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1), software-center:amd64 (5.2.4, 5.2.5), libwebkitgtk-3.0-0:amd64 (1.8.0-0ubuntu2, 1.8.1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1), libjavascriptcoregtk-1.0-0:amd64 (1.8.0-0ubuntu2, 1.8.1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1), google-chrome-stable:amd64 (21.0.1180.57-r148591, 21.0.1180.75-r150248), unity-greeter:amd64 (0.2.8-0ubuntu1.1, 0.2.8-0ubuntu1.2), libwebkitgtk-1.0-0:amd64 (1.8.0-0ubuntu2, 1.8.1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1), gir1.2-webkit-3.0:amd64 (1.8.0-0ubuntu2, 1.8.1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1), libfreerdp1:amd64 (1.0.1-1ubuntu2, 1.0.1-1ubuntu2.1), libwebkitgtk-3.0-common:amd64 (1.8.0-0ubuntu2, 1.8.1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1), gir1.2-javascriptcoregtk-3.0:amd64 (1.8.0-0ubuntu2, 1.8.1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1)
Error: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
End-Date: 2012-08-09 13:58:48

There is no reference to ubuntu-docs there at all. However, there is from the session before that:

Start-Date: 2012-08-09 13:55:57
Upgrade: libjavascriptcoregtk-3.0-0:amd64 (1.8.0-0ubuntu2, 1.8.1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1), libfreerdp-plugins-standard:amd64 (1.0.1-1ubuntu2, 1.0.1-1ubuntu2.1), ubuntu-docs:amd64 (12.04.5, 12.04.6), libpython2.7:amd64 (2.7.3-0ubuntu3, 2.7.3-0ubuntu3.1), libwebkitgtk-1.0-common:amd64 (1.8.0-0ubuntu2, 1.8.1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1), software-center:amd64 (5.2.4, 5.2.5), python2.7:amd64 (2.7.3-0ubuntu3, 2.7.3-0ubuntu3.1), libwebkitgtk-3.0-0:amd64 (1.8.0-0ubuntu2, 1.8.1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1), libjavascriptcoregtk-1.0-0:amd64 (1.8.0-0ubuntu2, 1.8.1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1), unity-greeter:amd64 (0.2.8-0ubuntu1.1, 0.2.8-0ubuntu1.2), libwebkitgtk-1.0-0:amd64 (1.8.0-0ubuntu2, 1.8.1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1), python2.7-minimal:amd64 (2.7.3-0ubuntu3, 2.7.3-0ubuntu3.1), gir1.2-webkit-3.0:amd64 (1.8.0-0ubuntu2, 1.8.1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1), libfreerdp1:amd64 (1.0.1-1ubuntu2, 1.0.1-1ubuntu2.1), python2.7-dev:amd64 (2.7.3-0ubuntu3, 2.7.3-0ubuntu3.1), libwebkitgtk-3.0-common:amd64 (1.8.0-0ubuntu2, 1.8.1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1), gir1.2-javascriptcoregtk-3.0:amd64 (1.8 .0-0ubuntu2, 1.8.1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1)
End-Date: 2012-08-09 13:57:36

The corresponding entry in term.log for that is blank though:

Log started: 2012-08-09 13:55:57
Log ended: 2012-08-09 13:57:36

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for apt (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Michael, would you mind having a look at this bug? Thanks in advance.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

My comment based upon looking in the log files attached this duplicate bug:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/language-pack-en-base/+bug/1035239