Failed to upgrade/reinstall libreoffice-common

[Allan Dyer]

A few days ago I noticed a problem during a normal apt-get upgrade - the libreoffice-common package failed to install:

dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/libreoffice-common_1%3a4.2.8-0ubuntu2_all.deb (--unpack):
 unable to open '/usr/lib/libreoffice/share/xslt/import/spreadsheetml/spreadsheetml2ooo.xsl.dpkg-new': Operation not permitted

 Initially I assumed it was a download problem so I cleaned the cache and retried. I also checked disc space: 12GB free, inodes 1035169 free. I removed libreoffice entirely (purge) and reinstalled. Up to then, libreoffice was working, after the reinstallation failed with the same error it was not there. I noted there were two systems with the same problem, both i386, and three systems without the problem, two 64bit, and one i386. I haven't tried the purge/reinstall on the second system because one system with no office software is already one too many.

I've followed the instructions on: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PackageManagerTroubleshootingProcedure and the Terminal output follows:

allan@finwhale:~$ ubuntu-support-status
Support status summary of 'finwhale':

You have 9 packages (0.5%) supported until February 2016 (9m)
You have 29 packages (1.5%) supported until February 2015 (9m)
You have 1815 packages (94.3%) supported until May 2019 (5y)
You have 34 packages (1.8%) supported until May 2017 (3y)

You have 0 packages (0.0%) that can not/no-longer be downloaded
You have 37 packages (1.9%) that are unsupported

Run with --show-unsupported, --show-supported or --show-all to see more details
allan@finwhale:~$ cat /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg.d/multiarch
cat: /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg.d/multiarch: No such file or directory
allan@finwhale:~$ dpkg --print-foreign-architectures
allan@finwhale:~$ sudo grep -R proxy /etc/apt/*
[sudo] password for allan:
allan@finwhale:~$ grep proxy /etc/environment
allan@finwhale:~$ echo $http_proxy

allan@finwhale:~$ echo $ftp_proxy

allan@finwhale:~$ grep proxy /etc/bash.bashrc
allan@finwhale:~$ grep proxy ~/.bashrc
allan@finwhale:~$ cat /etc/apt/apt.conf
cat: /etc/apt/apt.conf: No such file or directory
allan@finwhale:~$ sudo fuser -vvv /var/lib/dpkg/lock
allan@finwhale:~$ sudo fuser -vvv /var/cache/apt/archives/lock
allan@finwhale:~$ cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=14.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=trusty
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS"
allan@finwhale:~$ uname -a
Linux finwhale 3.13.0-44-generic #73-Ubuntu SMP Tue Dec 16 00:23:46 UTC 2014 i686 i686 i686 GNU/Linux
allan@finwhale:~$ sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/lock
allan@finwhale:~$ sudo rm /var/cache/apt/archives/lock
allan@finwhale:~$ sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock
allan@finwhale:~$ sudo cp -arf /var/lib/dpkg /var/lib/dpkg.backup
allan@finwhale:~$ allan@finwhale:~$ sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/status /var/lib/dpkg/status-bad
allan@finwhale:~$ sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/status-old /var/lib/dpkg/status || sudo cp /var/backups/apt.extended_states.0 /var/lib/dpkg/status
allan@finwhale:~$ sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/available /var/lib/dpkg/available-bad
allan@finwhale:~$ sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/available-old /var/lib/dpkg/available
allan@finwhale:~$ sudo rm -rf /var/lib/dpkg/updates/*
allan@finwhale:~$ sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists
allan@finwhale:~$ sudo rm /var/cache/apt/*.bin
allan@finwhale:~$ sudo mkdir /var/lib/apt/lists
allan@finwhale:~$ sudo mkdir /var/lib/apt/lists/partial
allan@finwhale:~$ LANG=C;sudo apt-get clean
allan@finwhale:~$ LANG=C;sudo apt-get autoclean
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
allan@finwhale:~$ LANG=C;sudo apt-get --purge autoremove
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: The package libreoffice-common needs to be reinstalled, but I can't find an archive for it.
allan@finwhale:~$ allan@finwhale:~$ LANG=C;sudo apt-get --fix-missing update -o APT::Cache-Limit=100000000
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty InRelease
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates InRelease
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-security InRelease
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty Release.gpg [933 B]
Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates Release.gpg [933 B]
Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-security Release.gpg [933 B]
Get:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty Release [58.5 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates Release [63.5 kB]
Get:6 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-security Release [63.5 kB]
Get:7 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty/main i386 Packages [1348 kB]
Get:8 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty/universe i386 Packages [5866 kB]
Get:9 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty/multiverse i386 Packages [134 kB]
Get:10 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty/main Translation-en [762 kB]
Get:11 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty/multiverse Translation-en [102 kB]
Get:12 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty/universe Translation-en [4089 kB]
Get:13 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/main i386 Packages [503 kB]
Get:14 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/universe i386 Packages [277 kB]
Get:15 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/multiverse i386 Packages [12.1 kB]
Get:16 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/main Translation-en [244 kB]
Get:17 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/multiverse Translation-en [6148 B]
Get:18 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/universe Translation-en [143 kB]
Get:19 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-security/main i386 Packages [256 kB]
Get:20 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-security/universe i386 Packages [101 kB]
Get:21 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-security/multiverse i386 Packages [3846 B]
Get:22 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-security/main Translation-en [136 kB]
Get:23 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-security/multiverse Translation-en [1679 B]
Get:24 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-security/universe Translation-en [56.8 kB]
Fetched 14.2 MB in 34s (416 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
allan@finwhale:~$ allan@finwhale:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libreoffice-java-common:
 libreoffice-java-common depends on libreoffice-common; however:
  Package libreoffice-common is not installed.

dpkg: error processing package libreoffice-java-common (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libreoffice-sdbc-hsqldb:
 libreoffice-sdbc-hsqldb depends on libreoffice-java-common (>= 1:4.2.8~); however:
  Package libreoffice-java-common is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libreoffice-sdbc-hsqldb (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libreoffice-core:
 libreoffice-core depends on libreoffice-common (>> 1:4.2.8); however:
  Package libreoffice-common is not installed.

dpkg: error processing package libreoffice-core (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of python3-uno:
 python3-uno depends on libreoffice-core (= 1:4.2.8-0ubuntu2); however:
  Package libreoffice-core is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package python3-uno (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libreoffice-math:
 libreoffice-math depends on libreoffice-core (= 1:4.2.8-0ubuntu2); however:
  Package libreoffice-core is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libreoffice-math (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libreoffice-impress:
 libreoffice-impress depends on libreoffice-core (= 1:4.2.8-0ubuntu2); however:
  Package libreoffice-core is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libreoffice-impress (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libreoffice:
 libreoffice depends on libreoffice-core (= 1:4.2.8-0ubuntu2); however:
  Package libreoffice-core is not configured yet.
 libreoffice depends on libreoffice-impress; however:
  Package libreoffice-impress is not configured yet.
 libreoffice depends on libreoffice-math; however:
  Package libreoffice-math is not configured yet.
 libreoffice depends on libreoffice-java-common (>= 1:4.2.8~); however:
  Package libreoffice-java-common is not configured yet.
 libreoffice depends on python3-uno (>= 4.0~); however:
  Package python3-uno is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libreoffice (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libreoffice-writer:
 libreoffice-writer depends on libreoffice-core (= 1:4.2.8-0ubuntu2); however:
  Package libreoffice-core is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libreoffice-writer (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libreoffice-base-core:
 libreoffice-base-core depends on libreoffice-core (= 1:4.2.8-0ubuntu2); however:
  Package libreoffice-core is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libreoffice-base-core (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libreoffice-gnome:
 libreoffice-gnome depends on libreoffice-core (= 1:4.2.8-0ubuntu2); however:
  Package libreoffice-core is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libreoffice-gnome (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libreoffice-base:
 libreoffice-base depends on libreoffice-base-core (= 1:4.2.8-0ubuntu2); however:
  Package libreoffice-base-core is not configured yet.
 libreoffice-base depends on libreoffice-core (= 1:4.2.8-0ubuntu2); however:
  Package libreoffice-core is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libreoffice-base (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libreoffice-sdbc-firebird:
 libreoffice-sdbc-firebird depends on libreoffice-core; however:
  Package libreoffice-core is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libreoffice-sdbc-firebird (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libreoffice-report-builder-bin:
 libreoffice-report-builder-bin depends on libreoffice-base; however:
  Package libreoffice-base is not configured yet.
 libreoffice-report-builder-bin depends on libreoffice-core; however:
  Package libreoffice-core is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libreoffice-report-builder-bin (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libreoffice-pdfimport:
 libreoffice-pdfimport depends on libreoffice-core; however:
  Package libreoffice-core is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libreoffice-pdfimport (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libreoffice-avmedia-backend-gstreamer:
 libreoffice-avmedia-backend-gstreamer depends on libreoffice-core; however:
  Package libreoffice-core is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libreoffice-avmedia-backend-gstreamer (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libreoffice-gtk:
 libreoffice-gtk depends on libreoffice-core (= 1:4.2.8-0ubuntu2); however:
  Package libreoffice-core is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libreoffice-gtk (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libreoffice-base-drivers:
 libreoffice-base-drivers depends on libreoffice-core; however:
  Package libreoffice-core is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libreoffice-base-drivers (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libreoffice-draw:
 libreoffice-draw depends on libreoffice-core (= 1:4.2.8-0ubuntu2); however:
  Package libreoffice-core is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libreoffice-draw (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libreoffice-calc:
 libreoffice-calc depends on libreoffice-base-core (= 1:4.2.8-0ubuntu2); however:
  Package libreoffice-base-core is not configured yet.
 libreoffice-calc depends on libreoffice-core (= 1:4.2.8-0ubuntu2); however:
  Package libreoffice-core is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libreoffice-calc (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 libreoffice-java-common
 libreoffice-sdbc-hsqldb
 libreoffice-core
 python3-uno
 libreoffice-math
 libreoffice-impress
 libreoffice
 libreoffice-writer
 libreoffice-base-core
 libreoffice-gnome
 libreoffice-base
 libreoffice-sdbc-firebird
 libreoffice-report-builder-bin
 libreoffice-pdfimport
 libreoffice-avmedia-backend-gstreamer
 libreoffice-gtk
 libreoffice-base-drivers
 libreoffice-draw
 libreoffice-calc
allan@finwhale:~$ sudo dpkg --clear-avail
allan@finwhale:~$ LANG=C;sudo apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libreoffice-common
Suggested packages:
  libreoffice-style-crystal libreoffice-style-hicontrast
  libreoffice-style-oxygen libreoffice-style-sifr libreoffice-style-tango
The following packages will be upgraded:
  libreoffice-common
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 3 not upgraded.
20 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 19.9 MB of archives.
After this operation, 76.1 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main libreoffice-common all 1:4.2.8-0ubuntu2 [19.9 MB]
Fetched 19.9 MB in 14s (1392 kB/s)
(Reading database ... 201450 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libreoffice-common_1%3a4.2.8-0ubuntu2_all.deb ...
Unpacking libreoffice-common (1:4.2.8-0ubuntu2) over (1:4.2.8-0ubuntu2) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/libreoffice-common_1%3a4.2.8-0ubuntu2_all.deb (--unpack):
 unable to open '/usr/lib/libreoffice/share/xslt/import/spreadsheetml/spreadsheetml2ooo.xsl.dpkg-new': Operation not permitted
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice/share/prereg/': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice/share/': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice/program/': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice': No such file or directory
Processing triggers for man-db (2.6.7.1-1ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-icon-theme (3.10.0-0ubuntu2) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.13-1) ...
Processing triggers for shared-mime-info (1.2-0ubuntu3) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.54ubuntu1.1) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.10.1-0ubuntu2) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.22-1ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for bamfdaemon (0.5.1+14.04.20140409-0ubuntu1) ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf-2.index...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/libreoffice-common_1%3a4.2.8-0ubuntu2_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
allan@finwhale:~$ LANG=C;sudo apt-get --fix-missing install
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:
E: Unmet dependencies. Try using -f.
allan@finwhale:~$ LANG=C;sudo apt-get update -o APT::Cache-Limit=100000000 && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty InRelease
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates InRelease
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-security InRelease
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty Release.gpg
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates Release.gpg [933 B]
Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-security Release.gpg [933 B]
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty Release
Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates Release [63.5 kB]
Get:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-security Release [63.5 kB]
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty/main i386 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty/universe i386 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty/multiverse i386 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty/main Translation-en
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty/multiverse Translation-en
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty/universe Translation-en
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/main i386 Packages [503 kB]
Get:6 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/universe i386 Packages [277 kB]
Get:7 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/multiverse i386 Packages [12.1 kB]
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/main Translation-en
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/multiverse Translation-en
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/universe Translation-en
Get:8 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-security/main i386 Packages [256 kB]
Get:9 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-security/universe i386 Packages [101 kB]
Get:10 http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-security/multiverse i386 Packages [3846 B]
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-security/main Translation-en
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-security/multiverse Translation-en
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com trusty-security/universe Translation-en
Fetched 1281 kB in 13s (96.4 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
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:
E: Unmet dependencies. Try using -f.
allan@finwhale:~$ find /etc/apt -name '*.list' -exec bash -c 'echo -e "\n$1\n"; cat -n "$1"' _ '{}' \;

/etc/apt/sources.list

     1 # deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS _Trusty Tahr_ - Release i386 (20140722.2)]/ trusty main restricted
     2
     3 # See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
     4 # newer versions of the distribution.
     5 deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty main
     6
     7 ## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
     8 ## distribution.
     9 deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-updates main
    10
    11 ## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
    12 ## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
    13 ## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
    14 deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty universe
    15 deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-updates universe
    16
    17 ## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
    18 ## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
    19 ## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
    20 ## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
    21 ## security team.
    22 deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty multiverse
    23 deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-updates multiverse
    24
    25 ## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
    26 ## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
    27 ## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
    28 ## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
    29 ## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
    30
    31 deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-security main
    32 deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-security universe
    33 deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-security multiverse
    34
    35 ## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
    36 ## 'partner' repository.
    37 ## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
    38 ## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
    39 # deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu trusty partner
    40 # deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu trusty partner
    41
    42 ## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by third-party
    43 ## developers who want to ship their latest software.
    44 # deb http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty main
    45 # deb-src http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty main
allan@finwhale:~$

--------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for any help getting libreoffice reinstalled and updated.
Allan

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Allan Dyer (adyer)]

Bug appears to be related to Sophos Anti-Virus (SAV). I removed SAV, and apt-get -f install completed OK. Terminal output below.
SAV was using fanotify for on-access detection.

Caveats:
1. I have two machines affected by this, I've only tried this on one so far.
2. This is not a simple causal relationship: I have other machines with SAV installed using fanotify that did not show this problem.

I will report this to Sophos.

Terminal output:

root@finwhale:~# apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libreoffice-common
Suggested packages:
  libreoffice-style-crystal libreoffice-style-hicontrast
  libreoffice-style-oxygen libreoffice-style-sifr libreoffice-style-tango
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libreoffice-common
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 21 not upgraded.
24 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/19.9 MB of archives.
After this operation, 76.1 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
(Reading database ... 201455 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libreoffice-common_1%3a4.2.8-0ubuntu2_all.deb ...
Unpacking libreoffice-common (1:4.2.8-0ubuntu2) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/libreoffice-common_1%3a4.2.8-0ubuntu2_all.deb (--unpack):
 unable to open '/usr/lib/libreoffice/share/xslt/import/spreadsheetml/spreadsheetml2ooo.xsl.dpkg-new': Operation not permitted
rmdir: failed to remove ‘/var/lib/libreoffice/share/prereg/’: No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove ‘/var/lib/libreoffice/share/’: No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove ‘/var/lib/libreoffice/program/’: No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove ‘/var/lib/libreoffice’: No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove ‘/var/lib/libreoffice’: No such file or directory
Processing triggers for man-db (2.6.7.1-1ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-icon-theme (3.10.0-0ubuntu2) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.13-1) ...
Processing triggers for shared-mime-info (1.2-0ubuntu3) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.54ubuntu1.1) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.10.1-0ubuntu2) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.22-1ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for bamfdaemon (0.5.1+14.04.20140409-0ubuntu1) ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf-2.index...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/libreoffice-common_1%3a4.2.8-0ubuntu2_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
root@finwhale:~# cd /opt/sophos-av
root@finwhale:/opt/sophos-av# ls
bin engine include lib32 mcs share tmp uninstall.sh var
doc etc lib log rms talpa uncdownload update
root@finwhale:/opt/sophos-av# cd
root@finwhale:~# /opt/sophos-av/uninstall.sh
Uninstalling Sophos Anti-Virus.
WARNING: Sophos Anti-Virus still running.
WARNING: Sophos Anti-Virus GUI daemon still running.
Do you want to stop Sophos Anti-Virus? Yes(Y)/No(N) [N]
> Y

Stopping Sophos Anti-Virus.
Stopping Sophos Anti-Virus G...

[John Correa (johnpcorrea)]

@Alan et al,
Just to confirm that had exactly the same problem, and had Sophos Ant-virus installed and running. I uninstalled SophosAV, and the process of upgrading LibreOffice --stuck at the Libreoffice-common-- worked perfectly.

This time the error was in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.
Many thanks.

[Allan Dyer (adyer)]

Workaround:
I've found it is not necessary to uninstall Sophos Anti-virus, just disabling the on-access scanning is enough:

/opt/sophos-av/bin/savdctl disable
apt-get upgrade
/opt/sophos-av/bin/savdctl enable

and re-enable it afterwards, so you still have the AV protection the rest of the time.
Thanks to John Correa - his post reminded me I should add this note.

[Jean-Francis Roy (jeanfrancisroy)]

I had the same issue with different packages (namely texlive-related packages) during a distribution update from 16.10 to 17.04, resulting in an incomplete upgrade. After a couple hours of trying to fix the issues, I finally suspected Sophos, and disabling/enabling on-access scanning worked around the problem.

This bug is not only related to libreoffice-commons but to other packages as well, but unfortunately I didn't note what packages they were.