package debhelper 9.20131227ubuntu1 failed to install/upgrade: package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should reinstall it before attempting configuration

[ET]

appear during every update of packages

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: debhelper 9.20131227ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-37.64-generic 3.13.11.7
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-37-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.5
AptOrdering:
 linux-firmware: Install
 debhelper: Configure
 linux-firmware: Configure
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon Nov 10 11:48:31 2014
DuplicateSignature: package:debhelper:9.20131227ubuntu1:package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should reinstall it before attempting configuration
ErrorMessage: package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should reinstall it before attempting configuration
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-07-24 (108 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140417)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: debhelper
Title: package debhelper 9.20131227ubuntu1 failed to install/upgrade: package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should reinstall it before attempting configuration
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Shane Synan (digitalcircuit)]

This happened after I tried to use the Printers tool (system-config-printers) to automatically install an Epson printer driver. It added the Epson repository, started to install epson-inkjet-printer-201211w, then hung for several minutes. After a reboot, I found out that debhelper was improperly installed.

To work-around the broken package, I used 'sudo apt-get install --reinstall debhelper' followed by 'sudo apt-get remove debhelper'.