package systemd-sysv 237-3ubuntu4 failed to install/upgrade: installed systemd-shim package post-removal script subprocess returned error exit status 2

[Aurélien COUDERC]

Upgrading from xenial to bionic failed the removal of systemd-shim.
I think the messages were the same as the following, that I can reproduce by running "apt upgrade" from the upgraded system:

Removing systemd-shim (9-1bzr4ubuntu1) ...
Removing 'diversion of /usr/share/dbus-1/system-services/org.freedesktop.systemd1.service to /usr/share/dbus-1/system-services/org.freedesktop.systemd1.service.systemd by systemd-shim'
dpkg-divert: error: rename involves overwriting '/usr/share/dbus-1/system-services/org.freedesktop.systemd1.service' with
  different file '/usr/share/dbus-1/system-services/org.freedesktop.systemd1.service.systemd', not allowed
dpkg: error processing package systemd-shim (--remove):
 installed systemd-shim package post-removal script subprocess returned error exit status 2
Errors were encountered while processing:
 systemd-shim
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: systemd-sysv 237-3ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-12.13-generic 4.15.7
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-12-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.8-0ubuntu10
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Mar 18 22:52:00 2018
ErrorMessage: installed systemd-shim package post-removal script subprocess returned error exit status 2
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-01-11 (1892 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120823.1)
Python3Details: /usr/bin/python3.6, Python 3.6.5rc1, python3-minimal, 3.6.4-1
PythonDetails: /usr/bin/python2.7, Python 2.7.14+, python-minimal, 2.7.14-4
RelatedPackageVersions:
 dpkg 1.19.0.5ubuntu1
 apt 1.6~beta1
SourcePackage: systemd
Title: package systemd-sysv 237-3ubuntu4 failed to install/upgrade: installed systemd-shim package post-removal script subprocess returned error exit status 2
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to bionic on 2018-03-18 (0 days ago)

[Aurélien COUDERC (coucouf)]

The system was initially installed with trusty/12.04, then migrated to xenial/16.04 and now bionic/18.04.

[Aurélien COUDERC (coucouf)]

Solved with running:

dpkg-divert --remove /usr/share/dbus-1/system-services/org.freedesktop.systemd1.service

apt upgrade

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox)]

*sigh* one should not have systemd-shim installed in xenial, either.
one should not use upstart as pid one in xenial, either.

I will check if I can add more metadata to systemd in bionic to handle this case better.

[Aurélien COUDERC (coucouf)]

Not that I've done anything more fancy than update-manager -d…
Specifically not played with the pid 1 defaults that I can remember.

[xor (xor)]

I am also affected and I did not manually install systemd-shim and did not tamper with upstart.

[Daniel Holbach (dholbach)]

Just ran into the same with xenial → bionic upgrade.

[Steve McConnel (stephen-mcconnel)]

system had been upgraded from trusty to xenial in the past

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This particular bug has already been reported and is a duplicate of bug 1773859, so it is being marked as such. Please look at the other bug report to see if there is any missing information that you can provide, or to see if there is a workaround for the bug. Additionally, any further discussion regarding the bug should occur in the other report. Please continue to report any other bugs you may find.