package gconf2 3.2.5-0ubuntu4 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1

[David Niergarth]

I ran dist-upgrade from 12.04 to 12.10, then immediately tried dist-upgrade to 13.04. gconf2 install failed with this traceback:

Processing triggers for gconf2 ...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/sbin/gconf-schemas", line 8, in <module>
    import sys,os,os.path,shutil,tempfile,subprocess,re
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/tempfile.py", line 32, in <module>
    import io as _io
ImportError: No module named io
Error in sys.excepthook:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apport_python_hook.py", line 64, in apport_excepthook
    from apport.fileutils import likely_packaged, get_recent_crashes
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apport/__init__.py", line 4, in <module>
    from apport.report import Report
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apport/report.py", line 12, in <module>
    import subprocess, tempfile, os.path, re, pwd, grp, os
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/tempfile.py", line 32, in <module>
    import io as _io
ImportError: No module named io

Original exception was:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/sbin/gconf-schemas", line 8, in <module>
    import sys,os,os.path,shutil,tempfile,subprocess,re
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/tempfile.py", line 32, in <module>
    import io as _io
ImportError: No module named io
dpkg: error processing gconf2 (--unpack):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Processing triggers for bamfdaemon ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf.index...
Processing triggers for menu ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 gconf2
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade 158.47s user 71.08s system 1% cpu 4:01:52.88 total

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04
Package: gconf2 3.2.5-0ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-27.46-generic 3.5.7.7
Uname: Linux 3.5.0-27-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu10
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri Mar 29 23:08:51 2013
ErrorMessage: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-04-20 (343 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Beta amd64 (20120327.1)
MarkForUpload: True
SourcePackage: gconf
Title: package gconf2 3.2.5-0ubuntu4 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to raring on 2013-03-30 (0 days ago)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Stefan Schmid (schms)]

I ran

sudo update-manager -d

in order to upgrade from ubuntue 12.10 to ubunut 13.04 and got

(..)
Could not install 'gconf2'
The upgrade will continue but the 'gconf2' package may not be in a working state. Please consider submitting a bug report about it.
subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
(..)

At first, the upgrade went on but then stopped after a while, i.e. it never ended successfully.
System status is know totally unknown.

$ uname -a
Linux niesen 3.8.0-15-generic #25-Ubuntu SMP Wed Mar 27 19:19:30 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
$ cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=13.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=raring
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu Raring Ringtail (development branch)"
$

[BSOD (lm-bsod)]

Have exactly the same problem (the same story on upgrade).

[njdove (njdove)]

Same error here, same botched upgrade.

I was able to boot to a recovery kernel - I told it to continue the boot process as normal, at which point I was able to get a prompt and run "apt-get dist-upgrade -f". The upgrade continued and my host is now fully upgraded.

[Barry Warsaw (barry)]

I'm pretty sure this is a duplicate of a bug that Matthias has fixed.