package libappstream3:amd64 0.9.4-1ubuntu3 failed to install/upgrade: package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should reinstall it before attempting configuration

[lakshmanaswamy]

i had been receiving error message on start up

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: libappstream3:amd64 0.9.4-1ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.13.0-45.50~16.04.1-generic 4.13.16
Uname: Linux 4.13.0-45-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.18
AptOrdering:
 apache2-doc: Install
 libappstream3: Configure
 appstream: Configure
 apache2-doc: Configure
 NULL: ConfigurePending
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue Jul 17 16:20:56 2018
DuplicateSignature:
 package:libappstream3:amd64:0.9.4-1ubuntu3
 Processing triggers for doc-base (0.10.7) ...
 Processing 1 added doc-base file...
 dpkg: error processing package libappstream3:amd64 (--configure):
  package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should
ErrorMessage: package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should reinstall it before attempting configuration
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-03-11 (129 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20170215.2)
RelatedPackageVersions:
 dpkg 1.18.4ubuntu1.4
 apt 1.2.27
SourcePackage: appstream
Title: package libappstream3:amd64 0.9.4-1ubuntu3 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)

[Matthias Klumpp (ximion)]

This is not a problem in "appstream", it's usually a package manager issue, e.g. if there was a power outage during upgrades or install/remove steps. In this case, it just randomly hit the appstream package.
If the APT installation is fixed, this problem should go away. Please file an issue against APT in case this is a persistent problem!