package gzip 1.3.12-8ubuntu1 failed to install/upgrade: there is no script in the new version of the package - giving up

[Scott]

Binary package hint: gzip

Description: Ubuntu 9.10
Release: 9.10

gzip:
  Installed: 1.3.12-8ubuntu1
  Candidate: 1.3.12-8ubuntu1.1
  Version table:
     1.3.12-8ubuntu1.1 0
        500 http://ubuntu.media.mit.edu karmic-updates/main Packages
        500 http://ubuntu.media.mit.edu karmic-security/main Packages
 *** 1.3.12-8ubuntu1 0
        500 http://ubuntu.media.mit.edu karmic/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

On update, a dialog pops up stating "An error occured"

sudo apt-get upgrade
[sudo] password for scott:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
  gzip
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/102kB of archives.
After this operation, 8,192B disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 462932 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace gzip 1.3.12-8ubuntu1 (using .../gzip_1.3.12-8ubuntu1.1_i386.deb) ...
install-info: No dir file specified; try --help for more information.
dpkg: warning: old pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/gzip_1.3.12-8ubuntu1.1_i386.deb (--unpack):
 there is no script in the new version of the package - giving up
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/gzip_1.3.12-8ubuntu1.1_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

ProblemType: Package
AptOrdering:
 gzip: Install
 gzip: Configure
Architecture: i386
Date: Wed Feb 3 11:58:04 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
ErrorMessage: there is no script in the new version of the package - giving up
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: gzip 1.3.12-8ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-18.55-generic
SourcePackage: gzip
Title: package gzip 1.3.12-8ubuntu1 failed to install/upgrade: there is no script in the new version of the package - giving up
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-18-generic i686

[cl@us (cgerull)]

As gzip is a core package of Karmic, what was your precondition? Simply removing and reinstalling gzip 1.3.12-8ubuntu1 doesn't reproduce the error.

[Scott (gorlins)]

I can't remove gzip either:

 sudo apt-get remove gzip
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  locate texmacs-common texlive-font-utils
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  file-roller gzip
WARNING: The following essential packages will be removed.
This should NOT be done unless you know exactly what you are doing!
  gzip
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 2 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 6,689kB disk space will be freed.
You are about to do something potentially harmful.
To continue type in the phrase 'Yes, do as I say!'
 ?] Yes, do as I say!
(Reading database ... 462930 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing file-roller ...
dpkg: warning: overriding problem because --force enabled:
 This is an essential package - it should not be removed.
Removing gzip ...
install-info: No dir file specified; try --help for more information.
dpkg: error processing gzip (--remove):
 subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
Processing triggers for menu ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 gzip
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

The error "install-info: No dir file specified" shows like you're not using the right version of install-info.
Do you have a version of texlive installed locally ?

[Scott (gorlins)]

Aha! install-info calls /usr/local/install-info which links to a texlive installation, so I renamed that symlink and it now calls /usr/sbin/install-info and gzip upgrades correctly. I hope this doesn't break texlive...

Seems like a silly conflict to me

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

Thanks for following up. You should read http://www.tug.org/texlive/debian.html and to workaround it and keep both install-info and TeXLive happy you should make sure the GNU install-info is not in root's $PATH.
I'm marking this report as duplicate of bug 295542

Don't hesitate to submit any new bug.