dpkg: warning: version '/etc/lsb-release' has bad syntax: version number does not start with digit

[Nisankh Acharjya]

I have noticed this while upgrade

sudo apt upgrade -y
[sudo] password for nisankh:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
  base-files
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 58.2 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 base-files amd64 10.1ubuntu2.2 [58.2 kB]
Fetched 58.2 kB in 2s (28.2 kB/s)
(Reading database ... 351419 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../base-files_10.1ubuntu2.2_amd64.deb ...
Warning: Stopping motd-news.service, but it can still be activated by:
  motd-news.timer
Unpacking base-files (10.1ubuntu2.2) over (10.1ubuntu2.1) ...
Setting up base-files (10.1ubuntu2.2) ...
Installing new version of config file /etc/update-motd.d/50-motd-news ...
motd-news.service is a disabled or a static unit, not starting it.
Processing triggers for install-info (6.5.0.dfsg.1-2) ...
Processing triggers for plymouth-theme-ubuntu-text (0.9.3-1ubuntu7) ...
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for cracklib-runtime (2.9.2-5build1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.3-2) ...
Processing triggers for plymouth-theme-kubuntu-text (1:18.04ubuntu11) ...
dpkg: warning: version '/etc/lsb-release' has bad syntax: version number does not start with digit
rmdir: failed to remove '/lib/plymouth/': No such file or directory
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.130ubuntu3.1) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-32-generic

Than i tried to reinstall the same package :

sudo apt-get install --reinstall base-files
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 58.2 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 base-files amd64 10.1ubuntu2.2 [58.2 kB]
Fetched 58.2 kB in 3s (23.0 kB/s)
(Reading database ... 351419 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../base-files_10.1ubuntu2.2_amd64.deb ...
Warning: Stopping motd-news.service, but it can still be activated by:
  motd-news.timer
Unpacking base-files (10.1ubuntu2.2) over (10.1ubuntu2.2) ...
Setting up base-files (10.1ubuntu2.2) ...
motd-news.service is a disabled or a static unit, not starting it.
Processing triggers for install-info (6.5.0.dfsg.1-2) ...
Processing triggers for plymouth-theme-ubuntu-text (0.9.3-1ubuntu7) ...
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for cracklib-runtime (2.9.2-5build1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.3-2) ...
Processing triggers for plymouth-theme-kubuntu-text (1:18.04ubuntu11) ...
dpkg: warning: version '/etc/lsb-release' has bad syntax: version number does not start with digit
rmdir: failed to remove '/lib/plymouth/': No such file or directory
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.130ubuntu3.1) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-32-generic

Again it shows the same warning " dpkg: warning: version '/etc/lsb-release' has bad syntax: version number does not start with digit "

and the contents of /etc/lsb-release is as follows

cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=18.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=bionic
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS"

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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