package mawk 1.3.3-11ubuntu2 failed to install/upgrade:

[Tom]

Binary package hint: mawk

would not install on ujpgrade to Ubuntu 10

ProblemType: Package
Architecture: i386
Date: Tue Jan 13 21:34:48 2009
Dependencies:
 libgcc1 1:4.2.4-1ubuntu3
 gcc-4.2-base 4.2.4-1ubuntu3
 libc6 2.7-10ubuntu4
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.04
ErrorMessage:
 ErrorMessage: package mawk is already installed and configured
Package: mawk 1.3.3-11ubuntu2
PackageArchitecture: i386
SourcePackage: mawk
Title: package mawk 1.3.3-11ubuntu2 failed to install/upgrade:
Uname: Linux 2.6.24-23-generic i686

[richeyrobert (rob-advancedmatrix)]

this happened after upgrade to karmic from jaunty. any ideas on how to fix?
When I do sudo apt-get upgrade from the terminal i get the following output:
rob@rrichey-linux:~$ sudo apt-get upgrade
[sudo] password for rob:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
  adobe-flashplugin
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
8 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Setting up mawk (1.3.3-15ubuntu1) ...
update-alternatives: error: alternative link /usr/bin/awk is already managed by awk.before_restore_2008-12-09_12.08.26.323931.
dpkg: error processing mawk (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2
Setting up chromium-browser (4.0.269.0~svn20091210r34249-0ubuntu1~ucd1~karmic) ...
update-alternatives: error: alternative link /usr/bin/x-www-browser is already managed by x-www-browser.before_restore_2008-12-09_12.08.26.323931.
dpkg: error processing chromium-browser (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of chromium-browser-inspector:
 chromium-browser-inspector depends on chromium-browser; however:
  Package chromium-browser is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing chromium-browser-inspector (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Setting up firefox-3.5 (3.5.5+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.9.10.1) ...
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
                          update-alternatives: error: alternative link /usr/bin/x-www-browser is already managed by x-www-browser.before_restore_2008-12-09_12.08.26.323931.
dpkg: error processing firefox-3.5 (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of firefox:
 firefox depends on firefox-3.5; however:
  Package firefox-3.5 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing firefox (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of firefox-3.0:
 firefox-3.0 depends on firefox-3.5; however:
  Package firefox-3.5 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing firefox-3.0 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Setting up gcj-4.3 (4.3.4-4ubuntu1) ...
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                            No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                          update-alternatives: error: alternative link /usr/bin/tnameserv is already managed by tnameserv.before_restore_2008-12-09_12.08.26.323931.
dpkg: error processing gcj-4.3 (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of ubufox:
 ubufox depends on firefox | abrowser | fi...

[richeyrobert (rob-advancedmatrix)]

I get this same message every time I run apt-get update or apt-get upgrade

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

Setting up mawk (1.3.3-15ubuntu1) ...
update-alternatives: error: alternative link /usr/bin/awk is already managed by awk.before_restore_2008-12-09_12.08.26.323931.
dpkg: error processing mawk (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2
Setting up chromium-browser (4.0.269.0~svn20091210r34249-0ubuntu1~ucd1~karmic) ...
update-alternatives: error: alternative link /usr/bin/x-www-browser is already managed by x-www-browser.before_restore_2008-12-09_12.08.26.323931.

This points to local corruption of your /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives directory. Closing as invalid.