dpkg fails to install acpi-support 0.137

[DH]

Binary package hint: acpi-support

Ubuntu Maverick version of acpi-support was replaced with Debian sid by accident on my machine. Successfully manually removed apci-support acpi-support-base and acpi-fakekey using dpkg -P --force-all <name> . Now, trying to revert to Maverick version in apt cache or manually downloaded from us.archive.ubuntu.com pool results in dpkg hanging:

$sudo dpkg -i --force-all acpi-support_0.137_amd64.deb
(Reading database ... 192568 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace acpi-support 0.137 (using acpi-support_0.137_amd64.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement acpi-support ...
Setting up acpi-support (0.137) ...

It will stay hanging on that line all night, dpkg process shows no cpu / cputime activity in top > 1GB free ram and <.5 loadavg:

9303 root 20 0 77516 57m 1120 S 0 1.6 0:00.48 dpkg

Until I ctrl-c out of it.

Setting dpkg --debug=72700 it appears to hang on one of two lines with equal probability:

D000200: conffderef in='/etc/acpi/events/sony-eject' current working='/etc/acpi/events/sony-eject'

or

D000200: conffderef in='/etc/acpi/sonybright.sh' current working='/etc/acpi/sonybright.sh'

so I tried to remove acpi-support again:

---------------------------
 $ sudo dpkg -P --force-all acpi-support
(Reading database ... 192556 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing acpi-support ...
Purging configuration files for acpi-support ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead ...
---------------------------------

Which changes the failure step lines to 100% of the time:

---------------------------------------
Configuration file `/etc/init.d/acpi-support', does not exist on system.
Installing new config file as you requested.

------------------------------
/etc/init.d/acpi-support is correctly removed / deleted by dpkg each time -P is used...

$ aptitude show dpkg
Package: dpkg
Essential: yes
State: installed
Automatically installed: no
Version: 1.15.8.4ubuntu3
Priority: required
Section: admin
Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <email address hidden>
Uncompressed Size: 6,263k
PreDepends: libbz2-1.0, libc6 (>= 2.11), libselinux1 (>= 1.32), zlib1g (>= 1:1.1.4), coreutils (>= 5.93-1), xz-utils
Suggests: apt
Breaks: apt (< 0.7.7), aptitude (< 0.4.7-1), dpkg-dev (< 1.14.16), emacs21 (< 21.4a+1-5.7), emacs21-nox (< 21.4a+1-5.7), emacs22 (<= 22.2-0ubuntu2),
        emacs22-gtk (<= 22.2-0ubuntu2), emacs22-nox (<= 22.2-0ubuntu2), jed (< 1:0.99.18+dfsg.1-13), jed-extra (<= 2.5.3-2), konqueror (<=
        4:4.2.96-1), libdpkg-perl (< 1.15.8), pinfo (< 0.6.9-3.1), tkinfo (< 2.8-3.1), xemacs21-support (< 21.4.22-2), xjed (< 1:0.99.18+dfsg.1-13)
Description: Debian package management system
 This package provides the low-level infrastructure for handling the installation and removal of Debian software packages.

 For Debian package development tools, install dpkg-dev.
Homepage: http://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Dpkg

I've googled like crazy on this, found other anecdotal reports of this package failing on upgrade, but no real answers . I have no idea what else to try / test / debug... any ideas why this .deb is failing.

[DH (dave-higherform)]

Tried the Natty version .deb with the same results...

A little more info on my system, as I saw a kernel config issue in https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/585100/comments/2 :

uname -a
Linux saturn 2.6.36-1-generic #7~lucid1-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 22 00:21:17 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Acer 3820T with Core i3-350M is the machine...

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

Please show the relevant section of 'pstree' output on this system when the hang occurs. The problem is almost certainly not in dpkg itself, but somewhere in a subprocess of the maintainer script; since the maintainer script is fairly simple, and no one else is reporting this problem, we'll need to see precisely where it gets stuck to be able to debug this.

[DH (dave-higherform)]

acpi related lines from pstree during sudo dpkg -i :

--─acpid
─hald─┬─hald-runner─┬─hald-addon-acpi
─konsole─┬─bash───dpkg───acpi-support.po───invoke-rc.d───acpid───restart

so I tried "sudo restart acpid", which also hangs, but with this output.

update-rc.d: warning: /etc/init.d/acpi-support missing LSB information
update-rc.d: see <http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts>

Attaching acpid, acpid.dpkg-new and acpi-support scripts from /etc/init.d/ ...

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

Ok, this indicates some sort of a problem communicating with upstart and getting the acpid process to restart. What does 'status acpid' return on this system?

[DH (dave-higherform)]

'status acpid' returns 'acpid start/spawned, process 1245' during the dpkg -i hang. The output of status changes to 'stop/spawned' if 'sudo stop -v acpid' is issued in another shell, even though the stop command never exits and gives no output. Ctrl-c cancelling the stop command and issuing a sudo start -v acpid will also change the output of status back to start/spawned. Start also hangs/no exit with no output. Also, issuing two sudo start -v acpid in a row gives 'start: Job is already running: acpid' Two stop commands in a row gives 'stop: Job has already been stopped: acpid'

Let me know what else you need to t/s this...

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

Ok, there's at least enough information here to indicate that this is not a bug in acpi-support, but in acpid and/or upstart. Reassigning to those packages.

[Bryan Quigley (bryanquigley)]

The Ubuntu release this was reported with has reached End of Life since you reported the bug. Is this still an issue for you on a supported release? (Try Ubuntu 12.04 or 13.04)

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

[DH (dave-higherform)]

I am currently running Bodhi 2.x, based on 12.04. Acpi-support appears to be installed and functioning correctly. Unable to duplicate the above documented behavior on my current system. Recommend closure of this bug.

[Bryan Quigley (bryanquigley)]

I'm glad this was resolved, sorry it wasn't tracked in the bug.. Closing.