package dnsmasq-base 2.78-1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1

[Dzintars Vilnis]

Just got this error after upgrade

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.10
Package: dnsmasq-base 2.78-1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.13.0-21.24-generic 4.13.13
Uname: Linux 4.13.0-21-generic i686
ApportVersion: 2.20.7-0ubuntu3.6
Architecture: i386
Date: Tue Dec 26 23:33:28 2017
DuplicateSignature:
 package:dnsmasq-base:2.78-1
 Setting up dnsmasq-base (2.78-1) ...
 chown: invalid group: ‘dnsmasq:nogroup’
 dpkg: error processing package dnsmasq-base (--configure):
  subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
ErrorMessage: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Python3Details: /usr/bin/python3.6, Python 3.6.3, python3-minimal, 3.6.3-0ubuntu2
PythonDetails: /usr/bin/python2.7, Python 2.7.14, python-minimal, 2.7.14-2ubuntu1
RelatedPackageVersions:
 dpkg 1.18.24ubuntu1
 apt 1.5.1
SourcePackage: dnsmasq
Title: package dnsmasq-base 2.78-1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to artful on 2017-12-27 (0 days ago)

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

Hi Dzintars,
dnsmasq user is set up by the preinst of dnsmasq right before the chown.
But nogroup is a generic group not tied to dnsmasq that should always exists.

You should have such a group as well and therefore the error should (tm) not exists :-)

What does the following give you:
$ getent group nogroup

I get a high group id like:
nogroup:x:65534:

It is part of base-passwd and set up to exist on the inital install.
I could only think of a system that had someone hard remove that group to trigger this error.
Maybe checking for the id as suggested above help you to start sorting it out.

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better.

Since it seems likely to me that this is a local configuration problem, rather than a bug in Ubuntu, I'm marking this bug as Incomplete.

If indeed this is a local configuration problem, you can find pointers to get help for this sort of problem here: http://www.ubuntu.com/support/community

Or if you believe that this is really a bug, then you may find it helpful to read "How to report bugs effectively" http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html. We'd be grateful if you would then provide a more complete description of the problem, explain why you believe this is a bug in Ubuntu rather than a problem specific to your system, and then change the bug status back to New.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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