package comerr-dev 2.1-1.41.3-1ubuntu1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1

[tatojo]

Binary package hint: comerr-dev

manuel@mlm-aa1:~$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 8.10
Release: 8.10
manuel@mlm-aa1:~$ apt-cache policy comerr-dev
comerr-dev:
  Installed: 2.1-1.41.3-1ubuntu1
  Candidate: 2.1-1.41.3-1ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 2.1-1.41.3-1ubuntu1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
manuel@mlm-aa1:~$

3) Update Ubuntu
4) Error reported

ProblemType: Package
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.10
ErrorMessage: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
NonfreeKernelModules: ath_hal
Package: comerr-dev 2.1-1.41.3-1ubuntu1
SourcePackage: e2fsprogs
Title: package comerr-dev 2.1-1.41.3-1ubuntu1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Uname: Linux 2.6.27-11-generic i686

[Theodore Ts'o (tytso)]

I can't reproduce it. I'm pretty sure the failing command in the postinstall script is:

install-info --quiet /usr/share/info/com_err.info

... but that doesn't fail for me.

Furthermore, the reported error message in dpkgTerminalLog.txt:

install-info: No dir file specified; try --help for more information.

doesn't appear in the perl script which is /usr/sbin/install-info.

So I don't know what to tell you.... in any case, this works just fine on my Ubuntu system, and everyone else's Debian systems, so it looks like some kind of local issue....

[tatojo (manuel-mlmateos)]

Actually I don't know, but the problem continues:
manuel@mlm-aa1:~$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
6 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
Setting up comerr-dev (2.1-1.41.3-1ubuntu1) ...
install-info: No dir file specified; try --help for more information.
dpkg: error processing comerr-dev (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libkrb5-dev:
 libkrb5-dev depends on comerr-dev; however:
  Package comerr-dev is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing libkrb5-dev (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libpq-dev:
 libpq-dev depends on libkrb5-dev; however:
  Package libkrb5-dev is not configured yet.
 libpq-dev depends on comerr-dev; however:
  Package comerr-dev is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing libpq-dev (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libqt4-dev:
 libqt4-dev depends on libpq-dev; however:
  Package libpq-dev is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing libqt4-dev (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libqt4-opengl-dev:
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
                          No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
                                                    No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                  No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                 libqt4-opengl-dev depends on libqt4-dev (= 4.4.3-0ubuntu1.2); however:
  Package libqt4-dev is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing libqt4-opengl-dev (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Setting up sharutils (1:4.6.3-1build1) ...
install-info: No dir file specified; try --help for more information.
dpkg: error processing sharutils (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              Errors were encountered while processing:
 comerr-dev
 libkrb5-dev
 libpq-dev
 libqt4-dev
 libqt4-opengl-dev
 sharutils
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
manuel@mlm-aa1:~$

[tatojo (manuel-mlmateos)]

manuel@mlm-aa1:~$ sudo install-info --quiet /usr/share/info/com_err.info
[sudo] password for manuel:
install-info: No dir file specified; try --help for more information.
manuel@mlm-aa1:~$

[Adrian Xiao (xiaozhe20001)]

It seems that you have installed GNU texinfo which will override debian install-info.
You could run "install-info --version" to see which install-info you're using now.
It should be like:

Debian install-info version 1.14.20ubuntu1.

Copyright (C) 1994,1995 Ian Jackson.
This is free software; see the GNU General Public Licence version 2 or
later for copying conditions. There is NO warranty.

[Thomas Ruoff (thomasruoff)]

Hi,

arg, when installing TexLive 2008 with their installer indeed GNUs texinfo was installed too.

Instead of symlinking all binaries to /usr/local/bin a added the paths to my shell.
System behaves again :)

Thx for the hint!

[tatojo (manuel-mlmateos)]

Thank you for your message Adrian,
This is what I got when running "install-info --version". Do you have
any idea to proceed after?
manuel@mlm-aa1:~$ install-info --version
install-info (GNU texinfo) 4.12

Copyright (C) 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
<http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
manuel@mlm-aa1:~$

Regards
Manuel

Adrian Xiao wrote:
> It seems that you have installed GNU texinfo which will override debian install-info.
> You could run "install-info --version" to see which install-info you're using now.
> It should be like:
>
> Debian install-info version 1.14.20ubuntu1.
>
> Copyright (C) 1994,1995 Ian Jackson.
> This is free software; see the GNU General Public Licence version 2 or
> later for copying conditions. There is NO warranty.
>
>

[Zabuza Momochi (zabuza-spam)]

Refer to this blog post. Helpful.

Similar to Thomas Ruff's solution

http://naveendageek.blogspot.com/2009/03/install-info-no-dir-file-specified-try.html

[Julien Plissonneau Duquene (julien-plissonneau-duquene)]

Marking invalid. Not a problem with e2fsprogs.