package libcap2 1:2.22-1ubuntu3 failed to install/upgrade: ErrorMessage: package libcap2 is already installed and configured

[clara]

bug happened while upgrading from 12.04 to 14.04. I was told libcap2 'ne sera pas fonctionnel' because it was already installed and configured.
In the end when starting the computer again it went back to the 12.04 version.

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: libcap2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-56.86-generic 3.2.51
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-56-generic i686
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.6
Architecture: i386
Date: Wed Aug 13 20:32:54 2014
ErrorMessage: ErrorMessage: package libcap2 is already installed and configured
MarkForUpload: True
SourcePackage: libcap2
Title: package libcap2 1:2.22-1ubuntu3 failed to install/upgrade: ErrorMessage: package libcap2 is already installed and configured
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2014-08-14 (0 days ago)

[Serge Hallyn (serge-hallyn)]

Thanks for reporting this bug. Unfortunately I cannot reproduce this. Could you please attach the file

/var/log/apt/term.log

which will hopefully have more information.

Also, please tell us how you initiated the upgrade. I'd recommend trying

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y dist-upgrade && sudo do-release-upgrade

and seeing whether that succeeds.

[clara (claranoehringer)]

Here is the file you asked for.

I initiated the upgrade via the 'gestionnaire de mise à jours'. graphic
Update manager?

I'll try the way you said. But I should also add that my computer is
nearly 7 years old. It also currently goes back to text console when
lauching firefox after being switched on the first time every day. On
the second time it is okay. I have no idea if this could have anything
to do with the upgrade failure.

I have never had any occasion to thank anyone of the Linux team, so I'll
take that opportunity! Thanks for the wonderful work you do to make
computers more accessible to small budgets, schools, associations and
more.
It's incredibly valuable. I hope you all know it.

Have a nice day when you wake up.

From Britanny,
Clara

Le vendredi 15 août 2014 à 22:02 +0000, Serge Hallyn a écrit :

> Thanks for reporting this bug. Unfortunately I cannot reproduce this.
> Could you please attach the file
>
> /var/log/apt/term.log
>
> which will hopefully have more information.
>
> Also, please tell us how you initiated the upgrade. I'd recommend
> trying
>
> sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y dist-upgrade && sudo do-release-
> upgrade
>
> and seeing whether that succeeds.
>

[Serge Hallyn (serge-hallyn)]

Thanks for the information. The term.log has entries like

files list file for package `netcat-traditional' contains empty filename

which do suggest you have corrupted package index. Please try doing

sudo apt-get clean

before doing the

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y dist-upgrade && sudo do-release-upgrade

Please also check that 'df -h /' does not show your root disk being full.

[clara (claranoehringer)]

Thanks again for your help.

I just tried what you said. That is I did:
sudo apt-get clean
and it seems it did nothing. And I did check my disk. It is at 75%.

I then tried to upgrade as you said, and I had the same message than the
last time.
It seems that the package netcat-traditional always gets in the way, so
I tried different things to get rid of it.
First via Synaptic, then with
apt-get -f remove netcat-traditional

and with
apt-get --purge remove netcat-traditional

It always says
"(Lecture de la base de données... 95%dpkg : erreur fatale irréversible,
abandon :
 la liste des fichiers pour le paquet « netcat-traditional » n'a pas de
retour à la ligne en fin de fichier
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)"

I have no idea how to get rid of it. If you have any idea I'd be most
welcome, though I guess you have more urgent and important things to
do.

Thanks again. Have a nice day.

Le lundi 18 août 2014 à 22:20 +0000, Serge Hallyn a écrit :

> Thanks for the information. The term.log has entries like
>
> files list file for package `netcat-traditional' contains empty filename
>
> which do suggest you have corrupted package index. Please try doing
>
> sudo apt-get clean
>
> before doing the
>
> sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y dist-upgrade && sudo do-release-
> upgrade
>
> Please also check that 'df -h /' does not show your root disk being
> full.
>

[Serge Hallyn (serge-hallyn)]

I'm afraid it seems your /var/lib/dpkg/status file is corrupted. Please
attach that file to this bug.

[clara (claranoehringer)]

Here it is. I hope it helps!

Le vendredi 22 août 2014 à 04:55 +0000, Serge Hallyn a écrit :

> I'm afraid it seems your /var/lib/dpkg/status file is corrupted. Please
> attach that file to this bug.
>

[Serge Hallyn (serge-hallyn)]

The "Status: purge ok installed" on the three netcat packages is not right. Could you please try:

sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/status /var/lib/dpkg/status.orig
sudo sed -i 's/purge ok installed/install ok installed/' /var/lib/dpkg/status

and see if that helps? Hopefully that is the only error and you can proceed after that, but there could be more corruption after that.

[clara (claranoehringer)]

Hello,

I did try both sudos (twice, actually) but it does absolutely nothing. I
got no message at all from the terminal afterwards and Synaptic still
doesn't manage to reinstall or update netcat packages, always with the
same message :
Lecture de la base de données... 95%dpkg : erreur fatale irréversible,
abandon :
la liste des fichiers pour le paquet « netcat-traditional » n'a pas de
retour à la ligne en fin de fichier

I wonder if I just shouldn't reinstall Ubuntu 12.04 from scratch...

Le vendredi 22 août 2014 à 15:15 +0000, Serge Hallyn a écrit :

> The "Status: purge ok installed" on the three netcat packages is not
> right. Could you please try:
>
> sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/status /var/lib/dpkg/status.orig
> sudo sed -i 's/purge ok installed/install ok installed/' /var/lib/dpkg/status
>
> and see if that helps? Hopefully that is the only error and you can
> proceed after that, but there could be more corruption after that.
>

[clara (claranoehringer)]

Someone on a forum orientated me toward this tutorial. As I suppose you
know much more about Ubuntu than anyone else on these forums I'm
wondering if you think this way would help or not?

Thanks again.

Le vendredi 22 août 2014 à 15:15 +0000, Serge Hallyn a écrit :

> The "Status: purge ok installed" on the three netcat packages is not
> right. Could you please try:
>
> sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/status /var/lib/dpkg/status.orig
> sudo sed -i 's/purge ok installed/install ok installed/' /var/lib/dpkg/status
>
> and see if that helps? Hopefully that is the only error and you can
> proceed after that, but there could be more corruption after that.
>

[Serge Hallyn (serge-hallyn)]

Which tutorial are you referring to?

Quoting clara (<email address hidden>):
> Someone on a forum orientated me toward this tutorial. As I suppose you
> know much more about Ubuntu than anyone else on these forums I'm
> wondering if you think this way would help or not?

[clara (claranoehringer)]

Sorry I thought I had put a link in my previous message.
This one :
http://www.valhalla.fr/2011/01/19/ubuntu-apt-get-fin-de-ligne/
I'm afraid it's in French but you might understand what it's all about
just by reading the commands. He explains the different steps he took to
get rid of a similar bug. So the first steps he took were useless.

In the end he uses the su command and then this one :
echo '\r' >> /var/lib/dpkg/info/linux-headers-2.6.35-22-generic.list

linux-header-2.6.35-22-generic being the file with a missing 'retour à
la ligne'.

Do you think it might work?

Have a nice day.

Le samedi 23 août 2014 à 11:53 +0000, Serge Hallyn a écrit :

> Which tutorial are you referring to?
>
> Quoting clara (<email address hidden>):
> > Someone on a forum orientated me toward this tutorial. As I suppose you
> > know much more about Ubuntu than anyone else on these forums I'm
> > wondering if you think this way would help or not?
>

[Serge Hallyn (serge-hallyn)]

It's worth a shot. Please let us know if it did work.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[clara (claranoehringer)]

Hello,

It did work in the sense that Ubuntu was able to launch the upgrade. It
repaired the netcat. But in the end, after the upgrade was complete the
computer was not able to launch anything. It was the new version 14.04,
but I could not start the computer. I do not recall exactly how it
failed.
So I just reinstalled 12.04. The computer still freezes at least once a
day, and I often get a text console saying that I've got a broken pipe.
I don't know if I still should try to upgrade or if the problem comes
from the computer itself (7 years old). I asked for help in French
Ubuntu forums but didn't get an answer yet.

I've seen the bug status have been changed to 'confirmed' since it
affected multiple users. I hope what I experienced can help you at
least.

In French we say 'bon courage' to fix this, and I don't know the
equivalent. I suppose a bit of luck will help though. So good luck with
this!

Le mercredi 27 août 2014 à 18:25 +0000, Serge Hallyn a écrit :

> It's worth a shot. Please let us know if it did work.
>

[Stéphane Graber (stgraber)]

Que ce passait-il lorsque vous démarriez avec 14.04 ? Est-ce que vous avez essayé de démarrer le CD d'installation de 14.04 ?

Un problème potentiel avec un ordinateur de plus de 7 ans est qu'il ne supporte pas le PAE et donc ne soit pas capable de démarrer un kernel recent, un message d'erreur approprié aurait cependant dû s'afficher ...

[clara (claranoehringer)]

Bonjour,

Je n'ai pas essayé de démarrer avec le CD. J'ai fait la mise à niveau
via le terminal, comme me l'avait indiqué Serge Hallyn. (avez-vous suivi
cet échange avec Serge Hallyn, ou souhaitez-vous que je vous en fasse le
résumé ??). L'ordi a téléchargé les fichiers, a installé la mise à
niveau et c'est au moment de redémarrer qu'il a planté.

Je ne me souviens plus exactement de ce qu'il s'est passé. L'ordi a
complètement planté, et j'ai dû me rendre compte qu'il avait bien
démarré avec la 14.04 seulement parce que la version a été mentionnée,
peut-être dans une console texte.

Mon ordi a tout juste 7 ans, et il galère tous les jours au premier
démarrage. Il démarre, puis plante au bout de quelques minutes, voire
plus. Avant qu'on réinstalle la 12.04, il affichait différents trucs,
notamment 'panic occurred, switching back to text console', et
maintenant, il gèle plutôt. Parfois il affiche aussi dans une console
'could not write bytes, broken pipe'.
Au deuxième démarrage, soit il ne démarre pas le grub, soit tout se
passe sans souci.

Je ne vois pas ce qu'est un PAE. Quel genre de message approprié
aurait-on pu voir ?

Je ne sais pas si mes informations lacunaires vous sont vraiment utiles,
mais je tiens à participer si je le peux.

Bonne journée,
Clara

Le lundi 08 septembre 2014 à 18:01 +0000, Stéphane Graber a écrit :

> Que ce passait-il lorsque vous démarriez avec 14.04 ? Est-ce que vous
> avez essayé de démarrer le CD d'installation de 14.04 ?
>
> Un problème potentiel avec un ordinateur de plus de 7 ans est qu'il ne
> supporte pas le PAE et donc ne soit pas capable de démarrer un kernel
> recent, un message d'erreur approprié aurait cependant dû s'afficher ...
>