package man-db 2.6.5-2 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1

[Rajesh Nandanwar]

rajesh@rajesh-HP-Pavilion-dv5-Notebook-PC:~$ sudo apt-get install usb-modeswitch-data
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Recommended packages:
  usb-modeswitch
The following packages will be upgraded:
  usb-modeswitch-data
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/28.2 kB of archives.
After this operation, 1,024 B of additional disk space will be used.
Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 44, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value in -e at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 46, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value in pattern match (m//) at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 47, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value $directory in -d at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 48, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value $directory in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 49, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
debconf: DbDriver "config": mkdir :No such file or directory
(Reading database ... 189138 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace usb-modeswitch-data 20120815-2 (using .../usb-modeswitch-data_20130610-1_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement usb-modeswitch-data ...
Setting up man-db (2.6.5-2) ...
Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 44, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value in -e at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 46, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value in pattern match (m//) at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 47, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value $directory in -d at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 48, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value $directory in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 49, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
debconf: DbDriver "config": mkdir :No such file or directory
dpkg: error processing man-db (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
                                                                    Setting up usb-modeswitch-data (20130610-1) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 man-db
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
rajesh@rajesh-HP-Pavilion-dv5-Notebook-PC:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
Setting up man-db (2.6.5-2) ...
Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 44, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value in -e at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 46, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value in pattern match (m//) at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 47, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value $directory in -d at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 48, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
Use of uninitialized value $directory in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 49, <DEBCONF_CONFIG> chunk 3.
debconf: DbDriver "config": mkdir :No such file or directory
dpkg: error processing man-db (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 man-db
rajesh@rajesh-HP-Pavilion-dv5-Notebook-PC:~$

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
Package: man-db 2.6.5-2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.10.0-1.8-generic 3.10.0-rc7
Uname: Linux 3.10.0-1-generic i686
ApportVersion: 2.10.2-0ubuntu3
AptOrdering:
 usb-modeswitch: Remove
 usb-modeswitch-data: Install
 usb-modeswitch-data: Configure
Architecture: i386
Date: Mon Jul 1 02:40:47 2013
DpkgHistoryLog:
 Start-Date: 2013-07-01 02:40:43
 Commandline: apt-get install usb-modeswitch-data
 Upgrade: usb-modeswitch-data:i386 (20120815-2, 20130610-1)
 Remove: usb-modeswitch:i386 (1.2.3+repack0-1ubuntu3)
DuplicateSignature: package:man-db:2.6.5-2:subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
ErrorMessage: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
MarkForUpload: True
SourcePackage: man-db
Title: package man-db 2.6.5-2 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Joseph Matheney (pfifo-fast)]

/proc is not mounted, mount it 'sudo mount -t proc none /proc' and run 'sudo apt-get install -f'

[Rajesh Nandanwar (rajesh-nandanwar)]

rajesh@rajesh-HP-Pavilion-dv5-Notebook-PC:~$ mount | grep /proc
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Sergio Benjamim (sergio-br2)]

The following fixed it:

sudo mkdir /var/cache/debconf
sudo apt-get install -f

I saw this fix in Bug #1094401

put /var/cache on tmpfs is not a good idea...

[Florian (florian-phpws)]

Had the same thing happen trying to install gutenprint on 13.10, Apire One 725.

------

florian@florian-aspireone:~$ sudo apt-get install gutenprint
[sudo] password for florian:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  linux-headers-3.11.0-12 linux-headers-3.11.0-12-generic
  linux-image-3.11.0-12-generic linux-image-extra-3.11.0-12-generic
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following extra packages will be installed:
  alien apparmor-easyprof at build-essential debhelper debugedit dh-apparmor
  dpkg-dev g++ g++-4.8 heirloom-mailx lib32z1 libalgorithm-diff-perl
  libalgorithm-diff-xs-perl libalgorithm-merge-perl libc6-i386 libjpeg62
  libmail-sendmail-perl libpod-plainer-perl librpm3 librpmbuild3 librpmio3
  librpmsign1 libsigsegv2 libstdc++-4.8-dev libsys-hostname-long-perl lsb
  lsb-core lsb-cxx lsb-desktop lsb-graphics lsb-invalid-mta lsb-languages
  lsb-multimedia lsb-printing lsb-security m4 ncurses-term pax po-debconf rpm
  rpm-common rpm2cpio
Suggested packages:
  lsb-rpm default-mta mail-transport-agent dh-make rpm-i18n debian-keyring
  g++-multilib g++-4.8-multilib gcc-4.8-doc libstdc++6-4.8-dbg
  libstdc++-4.8-doc libmail-box-perl elfutils
Recommended packages:
  libqt3-mt
The following NEW packages will be installed
  alien apparmor-easyprof at build-essential debhelper debugedit dh-apparmor
  dpkg-dev g++ g++-4.8 gutenprint heirloom-mailx lib32z1
  libalgorithm-diff-perl libalgorithm-diff-xs-perl libalgorithm-merge-perl
  libc6-i386 libjpeg62 libmail-sendmail-perl libpod-plainer-perl librpm3
  librpmbuild3 librpmio3 librpmsign1 libsigsegv2 libstdc++-4.8-dev
  libsys-hostname-long-perl lsb lsb-core lsb-cxx lsb-desktop lsb-graphics
  lsb-invalid-mta lsb-languages lsb-multimedia lsb-printing lsb-security m4
  ncurses-term pax po-debconf rpm rpm-common rpm2cpio
0 upgraded, 44 newly installed, 0 to remove and 11 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/31.8 MB of archives.
After this operation, 76.2 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!
  gutenprint
Install these packages without verification [y/N]? y
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
Selecting previously unselected package libjpeg62:amd64.
(Reading database ... 323021 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking libjpeg62:amd64 (from .../libjpeg62_6b1-3ubuntu1.13.10.1_amd64.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libsigsegv2:amd64.
Unpacking libsigsegv2:amd64 (from .../libsigsegv2_2.10-2_amd64.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package dpkg-dev.
Unpacking dpkg-dev (from .../dpkg-dev_1.16.12ubuntu1_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package po-debconf.
Unpacking po-debconf (from .../po-debconf_1.0.16+nmu2ubuntu1_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package apparmor-easyprof.
Unpacking apparmor-easyprof (from .../apparmor-easyprof_2.8.0-0ubuntu31.1_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package dh-apparmor.
Unpacking dh-apparm...

[Florian (florian-phpws)]

The fix suggested by Sergio does not appear to work for me.

[bill (wemember)]

This is my terminal output.

After the printer installation stalled i tried sudo apt-get install gutenprint

ted@ted-Satellite-C660D:~$ sudo apt-get upgrade
[sudo] password for ted:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
  linux-headers-generic linux-image-generic
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 2 not upgraded.
ted@ted-Satellite-C660D:~$ sudo apt-get update
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/apt/lists/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock directory /var/lib/apt/lists/
ted@ted-Satellite-C660D:~$ sudo apt-get install gutenprint
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
  linux-image-generic
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove it.
The following extra packages will be installed:
  alien apparmor-easyprof at build-essential debhelper debugedit dh-apparmor
  dpkg-dev g++ g++-4.8 heirloom-mailx lib32z1 libalgorithm-diff-perl
  libalgorithm-diff-xs-perl libalgorithm-merge-perl libjpeg62
  libmail-sendmail-perl libpod-plainer-perl librpm3 librpmbuild3 librpmio3
  librpmsign1 libsigsegv2 libstdc++-4.8-dev libsys-hostname-long-perl lsb
  lsb-core lsb-cxx lsb-desktop lsb-graphics lsb-invalid-mta lsb-languages
  lsb-multimedia lsb-printing lsb-security m4 ncurses-term pax po-debconf rpm
  rpm-common rpm2cpio
Suggested packages:
  lsb-rpm default-mta mail-transport-agent dh-make rpm-i18n debian-keyring
  g++-multilib g++-4.8-multilib gcc-4.8-doc libstdc++6-4.8-dbg
  libstdc++-4.8-doc libmail-box-perl elfutils
Recommended packages:
  libqt3-mt
The following NEW packages will be installed
  alien apparmor-easyprof at build-essential debhelper debugedit dh-apparmor
  dpkg-dev g++ g++-4.8 gutenprint heirloom-mailx lib32z1
  libalgorithm-diff-perl libalgorithm-diff-xs-perl libalgorithm-merge-perl
  libjpeg62 libmail-sendmail-perl libpod-plainer-perl librpm3 librpmbuild3
  librpmio3 librpmsign1 libsigsegv2 libstdc++-4.8-dev
  libsys-hostname-long-perl lsb lsb-core lsb-cxx lsb-desktop lsb-graphics
  lsb-invalid-mta lsb-languages lsb-multimedia lsb-printing lsb-security m4
  ncurses-term pax po-debconf rpm rpm-common rpm2cpio
0 upgraded, 43 newly installed, 0 to remove and 2 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/27.6 MB of archives.
After this operation, 66.4 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!
  gutenprint
Install these packages without verification [y/N]? y
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
Selecting previously unselected package libjpeg62:amd64.
(Reading database ... 167566 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking libjpeg62:amd64 (from .../libjpeg62_6b1-3ubuntu1.13.10.1_amd64.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libsigsegv2:amd64.
Unpacking libsigsegv2:amd64 (from .../libsigsegv2_2.10-2_amd64.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package dpkg-dev.
Unpacking dpkg-dev (from .../dpkg-dev_1.16.12...

[bill (wemember)]

my equipment is Toshiba satellite c660d with printer advent awp10 running ubuntu 13.10 which has been freshly installed alongside windows 7

[bill (wemember)]

Tried " sudo dpkg --configure -a" and it seems to have solved the problem. I'll keepypu posted.

[bill (wemember)]

The Kodak Hero 5.1 driver works with the advent awp10 at least for printing. No luck with scanning and copying though.

Problem solved . Thanks very much for all your help and patience.

[horrible@bash (kilian-scott13)]

My issue was due to the fact that po-debconf did not install properly (likely because "New Printer" setup in Ubuntu 13.04 keeps crashing one me) during the installation of openprint-gutenprint drivers. The following resolved the above issue for me:

`sudo apt-get remove po-debconf`
This removed all the packages and dependencies from attempting to install openprint-gutenprint drivers, but failed to remove po-debconf with the following error:

"Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should reinstall it before attempting a removal."

Package can be removed using the following command:
`sudo dpkg --remove --force-remove-reinstreq po-debconf`

Once it fully removes po-debconf:
`sudo apt-get install po-debconf`
`sudo apt-get install openprint-gutenprint`

Hopefully this is helpful to some of you.

[Guido Budack (k-admin-z)]

Yep, dosn't work for me as well.
Fresh set-up OS, trying to follow the 'make folder-suggestion' asf results in 'folder already exists'.
Seems to be really a bug.

Greets

Gee