package apport 1.20.1-0ubuntu4 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1

[Kody Ivan McCarthy]

Binary package hint: apport

Running routine update/upgrade today and apport failed to install, as well as apport-gtk, which depends on it. A reboot and second attempt does not solve this error. In a terminal, apt-get dist-upgrade returns:

Setting up apport (1.20.1-0ubuntu4) ...
start: Job failed to start
invoke-rc.d: initscript apport, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error processing apport (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of apport-gtk:
 apport-gtk depends on apport (>= 0.41); however:
  Package apport is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing apport-gtk (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
                          Errors were encountered while processing:
 apport
 apport-gtk
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: apport 1.20.1-0ubuntu4
Uname: Linux 2.6.39-999-generic i686
Architecture: i386
Date: Wed Apr 20 19:17:48 2011
ErrorMessage: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: apport
Title: package apport 1.20.1-0ubuntu4 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-04-15 (5 days ago)