libtasn1-3 cannot be upgraded or installed

[Barry Warsaw]

On Precise, apt-get upgrade wants to install libtasn1-3, but this fails:

$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 libtasn1-3 : Breaks: libtasn1-3:i386 (!= 2.10-1) but 2.9-4 is installed
 libtasn1-3:i386 : Breaks: libtasn1-3 (!= 2.9-4) but 2.10-1 is installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try using -f.

Unfortunately, `apt-get install -f` also fails:

Preparing to replace libtasn1-3:i386 2.9-4 (using .../libtasn1-3_2.10-1_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement libtasn1-3:i386 ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libtasn1-3_2.10-1_i386.deb (--unpack):
 './usr/share/doc/libtasn1-3/NEWS.gz' is different from the same file on the system
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/libtasn1-3_2.10-1_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

This is on an amd64 image of Precise. Could this be a multiarch breakage? It pretty much breaks all package management. (I'll try removing and reinstalling libtasn and its dependents next).

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

On Sun, Nov 13, 2011 at 12:20:19AM -0000, Launchpad Bug Tracker wrote:

> Preparing to replace libtasn1-3:i386 2.9-4 (using .../libtasn1-3_2.10-1_i386.deb) ...
> Unpacking replacement libtasn1-3:i386 ...
> dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libtasn1-3_2.10-1_i386.deb (--unpack):
> './usr/share/doc/libtasn1-3/NEWS.gz' is different from the same file on the system
> Errors were encountered while processing:
> /var/cache/apt/archives/libtasn1-3_2.10-1_i386.deb
> E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
>
> This is on an amd64 image of Precise. Could this be a multiarch breakage?
> It pretty much breaks all package management. (I'll try removing and
> reinstalling libtasn and its dependents next).

This is a manifestation of bug #871083: gzip output is not 100% idempotent,
and as a result gzip-compressed files are not always multiarch-safe.

--
Steve Langasek Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer http://www.debian.org/
<email address hidden> <email address hidden>

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

workaround is to remove /usr/share/doc/libtasn1-3/NEWS.gz from disk; if it's
not there dpkg won't complain about a mismatch.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[shang (zshang)]

i got the same problem.and can not remove /usr/share/doc/libtasn1-3/NEWS.gz from disk

any suggestion? thanks