package nmap 5.00-3 failed to install/upgrade: Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should reinstall it before attempting a removal.

[Thomas]

Binary package hint: nmap

Installed using apt-get from terminal (sudo apt-get install nmap)

It gets stuck at this point:

Preparing to replace nmap 5.00-3 (using .../archives/nmap_5.00-3_amd64.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement nmap ..

I already tried "sudo killall apt-get", "sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock" and "sudo dpkg --configure -a" as well as "sudo apt-get install -f"

It just stays stuck at "unpacking replacement..."

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: nmap 5.00-3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-24.43-generic 2.6.32.15+drm33.5
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-24-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
AptOrdering: nmap: Remove
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon Sep 20 14:31:25 2010
Dependencies:

ErrorMessage: Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should reinstall it before attempting a removal.
PackageArchitecture: unknown
SourcePackage: nmap
Title: package nmap 5.00-3 failed to install/upgrade: Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should reinstall it before attempting a removal.

[C de-Avillez (hggdh2)]

Thank you for opening this bug and helping make Ubuntu better. Unfortunately your dpkg term log does not show what happened with nmap -- nmap is only referenced at the end of the log, stating dpkg operations on it failed.

Can you please follow the advice given by dpkg -- reinstall, and then try to remove again?

[Thomas (thaomas)]

Thanks for the quick reply,

I found out that it was some kind of hard drive issue: while installing nmap there was a rsync job copying over 200 GB from one drive to another. It somehow froze the "apt-get install nmap" command at the point of unpacking. Strange this is that I could use the computer for everything else without slowdowns of any sorts, but trying to install new software did not work.

After the rsync job finished, i reinstalled nmap and everything went fine.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for nmap (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]