package python-bs4 4.4.1-1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 127

[Thokozani]

i was installing Lyrics on Linix: sudo apt install python-gi python-dbus gir1.2-appindicator3-0.1 python-requests python-bs4 python-lxml

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: python-bs4 4.4.1-1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-72.93-generic 4.4.49
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-72-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.5
Architecture: amd64
Date: Thu Apr 20 16:00:14 2017
DuplicateSignature:
 package:python-bs4:4.4.1-1
 Setting up libxml2-utils (2.9.3+dfsg1-1ubuntu0.2) ...
 dpkg: error processing package python-pil:amd64 (--configure):
  package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should
ErrorMessage: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 127
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-01-16 (93 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20160420.1)
PackageArchitecture: all
RelatedPackageVersions:
 dpkg 1.18.4ubuntu1.1
 apt 1.2.19
SourcePackage: beautifulsoup4
Title: package python-bs4 4.4.1-1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 127
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Thokozani (teekay)]

I`m not sure if its a bug or not. I just got an error message during installation.

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

Hi Thokozani,
thank your for your report and your help to make Ubuntu better.

I retried but it is not a general issue happening all the Time.
From the Logs:

/var/lib/dpkg/info/python-bs4.postinst: 6: /var/lib/dpkg/info/python-bs4.postinst: pycompile: not found
dpkg: error processing package python-bs4 (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 127

And:
dpkg: error processing package python-pil:amd64 (--configure):
 package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should
 reinstall it before attempting configuration
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of python-imaging:
 python-imaging depends on python-pil; however:
  Package python-pil:amd64 is not configured yet.

I usually recommend to quickly go back the dependency chain these issues belong to and reinstall the packages just to be sure as outlined in [1].

On your issue in particular you could also check:
 $ dpkg -S /usr/bin/pycompile
Which should tell you the package that provides pycompile on your system.
That should be python-minimal and you can check if anything is broken in there with:
 $ dpkg --verify python-minimal

Please report back if that already helped, but if not please set it back to new and provide the packground on your pycompile as good as possible.

[1]: https://askubuntu.com/questions/148715/how-to-fix-package-is-in-a-very-bad-inconsistent-state-error

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for beautifulsoup4 (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]