package wget 1.11.4-2ubuntu1.1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1

[Dominik Wujastyk]

Binary package hint: wget

the auto-update threw up this error. No intervention from me.

ProblemType: Package
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
ErrorMessage: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
Package: wget 1.11.4-2ubuntu1.1
SourcePackage: wget
Title: package wget 1.11.4-2ubuntu1.1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-15-generic i686

[Micah Cowan (micahcowan)]

Strange, I didn't encounter any problems.

The postinstall script is quite short, and straightforward; also I don't think it has changed since 1.11.4-2ubuntu1 (no .1). It just invokes install-info.

Please verify that the script is continuing to have problems, by first running "sudo dpkg --configure --pending", and if that still fails, run "sudo sh /var/lib/dpkg/info/wget.postinst". If it gives no output, it should mean success, which would be strange, since that's all that the dpkg command ought to have been doing (it's just to double-check).

Finally, if those still fail, run "sudo install-info /usr/share/info/wget.info", which is the same command present in that script, except that the script adds --quiet. Paste any interesting output here.

[Timur I. Davletshin (timur-davletshin)]

I've got the same problem

[Timur I. Davletshin (timur-davletshin)]

install-info --quiet /usr/share/info/wget.info
install-info: No dir file specified; try --help for more information.

[Dominik Wujastyk (wujastyk)]

Dr Dominik Wujastyk
Institut für Südasien-, Tibet- und Buddhismuskunde
Universität Wien
Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 2, Eingang 2.1
A-1090 Vienna
Austria

long term email address: <email address hidden>
--
To send me a private message, use my PGP key: http://wujastyk.net/pgp.html

Sent from Vienna, Austria

2009/10/6 Micah Cowan <email address hidden>

> Strange, I didn't encounter any problems.
>
> The postinstall script is quite short, and straightforward; also I don't
> think it has changed since 1.11.4-2ubuntu1 (no .1). It just invokes
> install-info.
>
> Please verify that the script is continuing to have problems, by first
> running "sudo dpkg --configure --pending", and if that still fails, run
> "sudo sh /var/lib/dpkg/info/wget.postinst". If it gives no output, it
> should mean success, which would be strange, since that's all that the
> dpkg command ought to have been doing (it's just to double-check).
>

Got these results:

dom@Susruta:~$ sudo dpkg --configure --pending
> [sudo] password for dom:
> Setting up wget (1.11.4-2ubuntu1.1) ...
> install-info: No dir file specified; try --help for more information.
> dpkg: error processing wget (--configure):
> subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
> dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of nautilus-dropbox:
> nautilus-dropbox depends on wget (>= 1.10.0); however:
> Package wget is not configured yet.
> dpkg: error processing nautilus-dropbox (--configure):
> dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
> Errors were encountered while processing:
> wget
> nautilus-dropbox
> dom@Susruta:~$
>

and

dom@Susruta:~$ sudo sh /var/lib/dpkg/info/wget.postinst
> dom@Susruta:~$
>
>

>
> Finally, if those still fail, run "sudo install-info
> /usr/share/info/wget.info", which is the same command present in that
> script, except that the script adds --quiet.

Produced this:

dom@Susruta:~$ sudo install-info /usr/share/info/wget.info
> install-info: No dir file specified; try --help for more information.
> dom@Susruta:~$
>

Thanks,
Dominik

> Paste any interesting
> output here.
>
> ** Changed in: wget (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Incomplete
>
> ** Changed in: wget (Ubuntu)
> Assignee: (unassigned) => Dominik Wujastyk (wujastyk)
>
> --
> package wget 1.11.4-2ubuntu1.1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess
> post-installation script returned error exit status 1
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/444917
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Micah Cowan (micahcowan)]

Gah, launchpad threw out my comments to the status change.

This is conceivably a problem in dpkg (where install-info comes from), rather than wget. In fact, since coreutils.postinst has exactly the same scriptlet, and wget's is will not have changed since 2ubuntu1, I suspect that's the case.

Please provide the output of 'dpkg -l dpkg | cat', and 'ls -l /usr/share/info/dir*'

[Micah Cowan (micahcowan)]

dpkg-1.14.24ubuntu1 seems not to have the string "No dir file specified" in it.

GNU's install-info does. But GNU's install-info isn't installed as install-info on Jaunty (I believe it is on Karmic, though). You're certain this is 9.04, and not 9.10? Are you using any non-standard repositories?

Please also provide the output of 'install-info --version', 'dpkg -S `which install-info`', and 'dpkg -l texinfo | cat'. Thanks!

[Dominik Wujastyk (wujastyk)]

2009/10/7 Micah Cowan <email address hidden>

> Gah, launchpad threw out my comments to the status change.
>
> This is conceivably a problem in dpkg (where install-info comes from),
> rather than wget. In fact, since coreutils.postinst has exactly the same
> scriptlet, and wget's is will not have changed since 2ubuntu1, I suspect
> that's the case.
>
> Please provide the output of 'dpkg -l dpkg | cat', and

'ls -l /usr/share/info/dir*'
>

Here's the first:

dom@Susruta:~$ sudo dpkg -l dpkg | cat
> [sudo] password for dom:
> Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
> |
> Status=Not/Inst/Cfg-files/Unpacked/Failed-cfg/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
> |/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err:
> uppercase=bad)
> ||/ Name
> Version Description
>
> +++-==========================================-=======================================================-============================================
> ii dpkg
> 1.14.24ubuntu1 Debian package
> management system
> dom@Susruta:~$
>

and here the ls listing:

dom@Susruta:~$ ls -l /usr/share/info/dir*
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3708 2009-09-21 11:53 /usr/share/info/dir
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3649 2009-09-21 10:55 /usr/share/info/dir.old
>

>
> ** Changed in: dpkg (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Incomplete
>
> ** Changed in: dpkg (Ubuntu)
> Assignee: (unassigned) => Dominik Wujastyk (wujastyk)
>
> --
> package wget 1.11.4-2ubuntu1.1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess
> post-installation script returned error exit status 1
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/444917
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Dominik Wujastyk (wujastyk)]

2009/10/7 Micah Cowan <email address hidden>

> dpkg-1.14.24ubuntu1 seems not to have the string "No dir file specified"
> in it.
>
> GNU's install-info does. But GNU's install-info isn't installed as
> install-info on Jaunty (I believe it is on Karmic, though). You're
> certain this is 9.04, and not 9.10? Are you using any non-standard
> repositories?
>
> Please also provide the output of 'install-info --version', 'dpkg -S
> `which install-info`', and 'dpkg -l texinfo | cat'. Thanks!
>
>
here's install-info:

dom@Susruta:~$ 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.
>

and the next, but without the escape quotes:

dom@Susruta:~$ dpkg -S which install-info
> app-install-data: /usr/share/app-install/icons/whichwayisup.xpm
> python2.5: /usr/lib/python2.5/whichdb.py
> debianutils: /usr/share/man/fr/man1/which.1.gz
> debianutils: /bin/which
> python2.6: /usr/lib/python2.6/whichdb.py
> debianutils: /usr/share/man/man1/which.1.gz
> debianutils: /usr/bin/which
> app-install-data: /usr/share/app-install/desktop/whichwayisup.desktop
> dpkg: /usr/sbin/install-info
> dpkg: /usr/share/man/fr/man8/install-info.8.gz
> dpkg: /usr/share/man/de/man8/install-info.8.gz
> dpkg: /usr/share/man/pl/man8/install-info.8.gz
> dpkg: /usr/share/man/man8/install-info.8.gz
> dpkg: /usr/share/man/sv/man8/install-info.8.gz
>

and the last, again:

dom@Susruta:~$ dpkg -l texinfo | cat
> Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
> |
> Status=Not/Inst/Cfg-files/Unpacked/Failed-cfg/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
> |/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err:
> uppercase=bad)
> ||/ Name
> Version Description
>
> +++-==========================================-=======================================================-============================================
> un texinfo
> <none> (no description
> available)
>

Thanks!

Dominik

--
> package wget 1.11.4-2ubuntu1.1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess
> post-installation script returned error exit status 1
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/444917
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Dominik Wujastyk (wujastyk)]

2009/10/7 Micah Cowan <email address hidden>

> dpkg-1.14.24ubuntu1 seems not to have the string "No dir file specified"
> in it.
>
> GNU's install-info does. But GNU's install-info isn't installed as
> install-info on Jaunty (I believe it is on Karmic, though). You're
> certain this is 9.04, and not 9.10? Are you using any non-standard
> repositories?
>
>
Yes, I'm definitely with 9.04. I'm not going to Karmic until after the main
release on 22nd. But I am using some non-standard repositories. I'm
attaching a screenshot to this email.

Best,
Dominik

> Please also provide the output of 'install-info --version', 'dpkg -S
> `which install-info`', and 'dpkg -l texinfo | cat'. Thanks!
>
> --
> package wget 1.11.4-2ubuntu1.1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess
> post-installation script returned error exit status 1
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/444917
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Linki (linki)]

Same Bug on my system.

[Micah Cowan (micahcowan)]

Hi Dominik, thanks very much.

Actually, I need you to type:
  dpkg -S `which install-info`
not
  dpkg -S which install-info

But so far I can say this: the output from your install-info --version is different from what it ought to be. Jaunty's install-info is dpkg's (and from the dpkg -S output you gave, dpkg agrees). Your dpkg version is the same one I have; but it doesn't say "GNU install-info 4.12", it says "Debian install-info version 1.14.24ubuntu1", which identifies it as the one that comes from dpkg. And GNU install-info 4.12 can't come from the latest Jaunty texinfo package anyway (which you've already shown as not installed), since that package is currently at 4.11.dfsg.1-4.

The problem is clearly that "install-info" is not invoking the one at /usr/sbin/install-info, as it expects to, but some other one that's been injected in a directory closer to the start of your PATH environment variable. So it's not a bug in wget, nor in dpkg. The remaining question is, where is it, and where did it come from, and what do all of you have in common that is provoking this symptom. The corrected "dpkg -S" command above should help us discover that.

An additional item: GNU install-info shouldn't emit this error _either_, provided it was configured at build time to look in the correct place for "dir". texinfo's "ginstall-info" is misconfigured* to look at /dir, and apparently so is your install-info, which is why, when it doesn't find /dir (or whatever file it's misconfigured to look for instead of /usr/share/info/dir), it complains that you didn't tell it where to put the wget info entry.

* "misconfigured", but possibly intentionally, if the packager was worried about Bad Things Happening when both dpkg's install-info and ginstall-info are messing with the same file, in possibly incompatible ways.

If any of you are still waiting around for a workaround to your borked situation, note that if you edit /var/lib/dpkg/info/wget.postinst (as root), and replace "install-info" with "/usr/sbin/install-info", and then run "sudo dpkg --configure --pending", it should resolve the situation. Please don't stop participating in this bug, though, so we can find out where the glitch came from, and inform the appropriate people so they can fix it.

[Micah Cowan (micahcowan)]

Removing "Confirmed" status from wget, since the bug won't be with the wget package. Someone might argue that the wget.postinst script should hard-code the path to install-info, but even making that case, the bug would be with debhelper, since that's what generated the script. But let's not open a bug against debhelper until we've learned more about what's going on, and whether it's really debhelper's responsibility to give a crap. :)

Not _closing_ the wget bug, because there's really no better package to put it against, and we'd just have to open it for "Ubuntu", and even that might be wrong because it may turn out to be the fault of one of these extra, nonstandard repositories, so we'll just keep it on wget for now.

[Dominik Wujastyk (wujastyk)]

Apologies, here it is:

dom@Susruta:~$ dpkg -S `which install-info`
dpkg: /usr/local/texlive/2008/bin/i386-linux//install-info not found.
dom@Susruta:~$

And I think this answers the question. I've added the TeX path to my
.bashrc before $PATH. I did this in ~/.profile and ~/.bashrc. I've changed
those round, but the problem persists. Hmm. Now I get this:

dom@Susruta:~$ dpkg -S `which install-info`
> dpkg: /usr/local/bin/install-info not found.
> dom@Susruta:~$
>

And although I've undone the PATH problem, I now get this:

dom@Susruta:/usr/local/bin$ ls -l inst*
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 51 2009-10-05 15:49 install-info ->
> /usr/local/texlive/2008/bin/i386-linux/install-info
> dom@Susruta:/usr/local/bin$
>

2009/10/8 Micah Cowan <email address hidden>

> Hi Dominik, thanks very much.
>
> Actually, I need you to type:
> dpkg -S `which install-info`
> not
> dpkg -S which install-info
>
> But so far I can say this: the output from your install-info --version
> is different from what it ought to be. Jaunty's install-info is dpkg's
> (and from the dpkg -S output you gave, dpkg agrees). Your dpkg version
> is the same one I have; but it doesn't say "GNU install-info 4.12", it
> says "Debian install-info version 1.14.24ubuntu1", which identifies it
> as the one that comes from dpkg. And GNU install-info 4.12 can't come
> from the latest Jaunty texinfo package anyway (which you've already
> shown as not installed), since that package is currently at
> 4.11.dfsg.1-4.
>
> The problem is clearly that "install-info" is not invoking the one at
> /usr/sbin/install-info, as it expects to, but some other one that's been
> injected in a directory closer to the start of your PATH environment
> variable. So it's not a bug in wget, nor in dpkg. The remaining question
> is, where is it, and where did it come from, and what do all of you have
> in common that is provoking this symptom. The corrected "dpkg -S"
> command above should help us discover that.
>
> An additional item: GNU install-info shouldn't emit this error _either_,
> provided it was configured at build time to look in the correct place
> for "dir". texinfo's "ginstall-info" is misconfigured* to look at /dir,
> and apparently so is your install-info, which is why, when it doesn't
> find /dir (or whatever file it's misconfigured to look for instead of
> /usr/share/info/dir), it complains that you didn't tell it where to put
> the wget info entry.
>
> * "misconfigured", but possibly intentionally, if the packager was
> worried about Bad Things Happening when both dpkg's install-info and
> ginstall-info are messing with the same file, in possibly incompatible
> ways.
>
> If any of you are still waiting around for a workaround to your borked
> situation, note that if you edit /var/lib/dpkg/info/wget.postinst (as
> root), and replace "install-info" with "/usr/sbin/install-info", and
> then run "sudo dpkg --configure --pending", it should resolve the
> situation. Please don't stop participating in this bug, though, so we
> can find out where the glitch came from, and inform the appropriate
> people so they can fix it.
>

I did this edit, and got:

dom@Susruta:/usr/local/bin$ sudo gedit /var/lib/d...

[Micah Cowan (micahcowan)]

Yeah; a reinstall will re-unpack the .deb file, including the postinstall script. That's why if you edit it, you need to make sure you start from the "configuration" step, skipping the unpack.

Obviously, another workaround is to ensure that /usr/sbin/install-info comes first in the path. This probably means editing your /etc/environment.

I think a case can be made that debhelper should be hardcoding the correct path. Gonna toss this to them, see if they bite. Obviously, this would affect upstream/Debian as well, and I'm assuming they're probably getting bugs on this, too.

If you folks don't mind, can you all tell me when and why you chose to install TexLive (or other sources of install-info)? This seems to be a sudden and recent influx of this problem, despite TexLive and debhelper most likely always behaving this way... though TexLive could conceivably have placed install-info in unfortunate paths only just recently.

[Micah Cowan (micahcowan)]

Note: I wouldn't make the debhelper-bug case if it were just that /usr/local/texlive/2008/bin/i386-linux//install-info was on the path: that's obviously a departure from the normal settings for /etc/environment, and possibly is asking for trouble. However, the fact that it's also on /usr/local/bin, which is currently earlier in the PATH string than /usr/sbin... to me, it's unreasonable to expect the user to know to avoid installing GNU install-info (or any install-info incompatible with debhelper-generated script expectations) to /usr/local/bin. debhelper should probably go out of its way to ensure it's using the right tool. Explicitly stating the dir file to be updated, would also solve this specific problem, but IMO wouldn't be as robust as the explicit invocation.

OTOH, the installed "install-info" program was also obviously misconfigured (at build time) to update a non-existant "dir" file; that aspect would be TexLive's fault.

[Peter van der Slot (p-j-m-vanderslot)]

Bug effects later upgrades as well. Update Manager tried today to upgrade libicu38 and produced the following in the details screen:
----------------
(Reading database ... 188715 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace libicu38 3.8.1-3ubuntu1 (using .../libicu38_3.8.1-3ubuntu1.1_amd64.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement libicu38 ...
Setting up wget (1.11.4-2ubuntu1.1) ...
install-info: No dir file specified; try --help for more information.
dpkg: error processing wget (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Setting up libicu38 (3.8.1-3ubuntu1.1) ...

Processing triggers for libc6 ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Errors were encountered while processing:
 wget
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
A package failed to install. Trying to recover:
Setting up wget (1.11.4-2ubuntu1.1) ...
install-info: No dir file specified; try --help for more information.
dpkg: error processing wget (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 wget
----------------
Some information requested at earlier post that may be helpful:
peter@lpno005:~$ dpkg -S `which install-info`
dpkg: /usr/local/bin/install-info not found.
peter@lpno005:~$ ls -l /usr/local/bin/ins*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 53 2009-08-13 11:25 /usr/local/bin/install-info -> /usr/local/texlive/2008/bin/x86_64-linux/install-info
peter@lpno005:~$ ls -l /usr/sbin/ins*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10584 2009-02-09 10:47 /usr/sbin/install-docs
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 15854 2009-01-07 13:34 /usr/sbin/install-info
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19 2009-06-24 16:30 /usr/sbin/install-menu -> ../bin/install-menu
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4551 2004-10-26 18:33 /usr/sbin/install-sgmlcatalog
peter@lpno005:~$ echo $PATH
/opt/intel/Compiler/11.0/081/bin/intel64:/opt/mpich2/bin:/home/peter/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/home/peter/bin

How to correct this so that future updates work?

[Micah Cowan (micahcowan)]

The instructions I gave (modify the postinst script and do a dpkg --configure --pending) should work, until the next time wget itself, or any package whatsoever with an info page, is updated.

A more long term solution seems pretty obvious: change your path (in /etc/environment), or move your /usr/install/bin/install-info, so that it's not the one that is found first.

[Dominik Wujastyk (wujastyk)]

Thanks, Micah,

I've already tried to do as you said, but there's still a pesky PATH
reassignment somewhere in my system that I can't find. When I was doing
this PATH update, at the time of installing TeXlive, I was floundering
around, not knowing whether I should be putting the texlive path into
.bashrc, .profile, .login, /etc/environment, /etc/bash.bashrc ,
/etc/profile, etc/profile.d or somewhere else (and whether it should be root
or ~). Ah, the wonderful flexibility of unix.. Google/Ubuntu resources
don't answer this definitively, or at least I couldn't find a simple, direct
answer. I now think everything should happen in ~/.bashrc, but I may be
wrong. Anyhow, I must have found some deeply-hidden config file somewhere
and put the texlive path into it, and now I can't find it any more. I've
been fgrepping around, without luck. I'll find it at some point, and then
all will be well.

Thanks!

Dominik

2009/10/12 Micah Cowan <email address hidden>

> The instructions I gave (modify the postinst script and do a dpkg
> --configure --pending) should work, until the next time wget itself, or
> any package whatsoever with an info page, is updated.
>
> A more long term solution seems pretty obvious: change your path (in
> /etc/environment), or move your /usr/install/bin/install-info, so that
> it's not the one that is found first.
>
> --
> package wget 1.11.4-2ubuntu1.1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess
> post-installation script returned error exit status 1
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/444917
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Jacques Luder (j-luder)]

A bad install-info in /usr/local/bin !
but just a question :
Why install/upgrade process don't change PATH not to use /usr/local/bin or /usr/local/sbin ?