Thanks to steelclad ScottK, attached here is a (hopefully final) update that should also allow users that have mistakenly installed trousers to upgrade and eventually remove it. This is a log showing it: root@norsetto:/root/debian# apt-get install trousers Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following NEW packages will be installed: trousers 0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 0B/142kB of archives. After this operation, 487kB of additional disk space will be used. Can not write log, openpty() failed (/dev/pts not mounted?) Selecting previously deselected package trousers. (Reading database ... 381419 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking trousers (from .../trousers_0.3.1-4ubuntu0.1_amd64.deb) ... Can not write log, openpty() failed (/dev/pts not mounted?) Setting up trousers (0.3.1-4ubuntu0.1) ... Adding system user `tss' (UID 118) ... Adding new group `tss' (GID 129) ... Adding new user `tss' (UID 118) with group `tss' ... Not creating home directory `/var/lib/tpm'. Starting Trusted Computing daemon: device driver not loaded, aborting. root@norsetto:/root/debian# apt-get remove --purge trousers Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following packages will be REMOVED: trousers* 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded. After this operation, 487kB disk space will be freed. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Can not write log, openpty() failed (/dev/pts not mounted?) (Reading database ... 381441 files and directories currently installed.) Removing trousers ... Stopping Trusted Computing daemon: invoke-rc.d: initscript trousers, action "stop" failed. dpkg: error processing trousers (--purge): subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit status 1 Starting Trusted Computing daemon: device driver not loaded, aborting. Errors were encountered while processing: trousers E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) root@norsetto:/root/debian# apt-get update && apt-get upgrade Ign file: ./ Release.gpg Ign file: ./ Translation-en_US Ign file: ./ Release Ign file: ./ Packages Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy Release.gpg Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy/main Translation-en_US Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy/restricted Translation-en_US Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy/universe Translation-en_US Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy/multiverse Translation-en_US Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com intrepid Release.gpg Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates Release.gpg Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/main Translation-en_US Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/restricted Translation-en_US Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/universe Translation-en_US Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/multiverse Translation-en_US Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy Release Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com intrepid Release Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates Release Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy/main Packages Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy/restricted Packages Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy/universe Packages Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy/multiverse Packages Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main Sources Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/restricted Sources Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/universe Sources Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/multiverse Sources Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/main Packages Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/restricted Packages Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/universe Packages Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/multiverse Packages Reading package lists... Done Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following packages will be upgraded: trousers 1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 0B/143kB of archives. After this operation, 0B of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated! trousers Install these packages without verification [y/N]? y Can not write log, openpty() failed (/dev/pts not mounted?) Selecting previously deselected package trousers. (Reading database ... 381442 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to replace trousers 0.3.1-4ubuntu0.1 (using .../trousers_0.3.1-4ubuntu0.3_amd64.deb) ... Stopping Trusted Computing daemon: invoke-rc.d: initscript trousers, action "stop" failed. dpkg: warning - old pre-removal script returned error exit status 1 dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ... Stopping Trusted Computing daemon: invoke-rc.d: initscript trousers, action "stop" failed. dpkg: ... it looks like that went OK. Unpacking replacement trousers ... Can not write log, openpty() failed (/dev/pts not mounted?) Setting up trousers (0.3.1-4ubuntu0.3) ... Installing new version of config file /etc/init.d/trousers ... The user `tss' already exists. Exiting. Starting Trusted Computing daemon: device driver not loaded, aborting. root@norsetto:/root/debian# apt-get remove --purge trousers Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following packages will be REMOVED: trousers* 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded. After this operation, 487kB disk space will be freed. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Can not write log, openpty() failed (/dev/pts not mounted?) (Reading database ... 381441 files and directories currently installed.) Removing trousers ... Stopping Trusted Computing daemon: tcsd. Looking for files to backup/remove ... Removing user `tss' ... Warning: Removing group `tss', since no other user is part of it. Done. The group `tss' does not exist. Purging configuration files for trousers ... Can motu-sru please give a go-ahead?