Comment 3 for bug 1181542

I believe I have the same problem:

sudo apt-get install ess
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Suggested packages:
  xlispstat pspp jags
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  ess
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/1,672 kB of archives.
After this operation, 5,572 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Selecting previously unselected package ess.
(Reading database ... 345522 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking ess (from .../ess_13.05-1quantal0_all.deb) ...
Processing triggers for doc-base ...
Processing 1 added doc-base file...
Registering documents with scrollkeeper...
Processing triggers for install-info ...
Setting up ess (13.05-1quantal0) ...
Install ess for emacs
Install ess for emacs23
install/ess: Handling install for emacsen flavor emacs23
loading 'ess-compat ..
loading 'ess-custom ..
loading 'ess ..
loading 'ess-site ..
[ess-site:] ess-lisp-directory = '/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/ess'
[ess-site:] require 'ess *ITSELF* ...
[ess-site:] .. after requiring 'ess ...
[ess-site:] Before requiring dialect 'ess-*-d ....
[ess-site:] require 'ess-r-d ...
[ess-r-d:] (require 'ess-s-l)
[ess-s-l:] (def** ) only ...
enabling speedbar support
[ess-r-d:] (autoload ..) & (def** ..)
[ess-site:] require 'ess-sp3-d ...
[ess-site:] require 'ess-sp5-d ...
[ess-site:] require 'ess-sp6-d ...
[ess-site:] require 'ess-sta-d ...
[ess-site:] require 'ess-xls-d ...
[ess-site:] require 'ess-vst-d ...
[ess-site:] require 'ess-arc-d ...
[ess-site:] require 'ess-sas-d ...
[ess-sas-d:] require 'comint & 'shell ...
[ess-sas-d:] require 'ess-sas-l ...
[ess-sas-l:] (require 'ess) ...
[ess-sas-l:] (require 'ess-mode) ...
[ess-sas-l:] (autoload ..) (def** ..) etc ...
[ess-sas-d:] (autoload ..) (def** ..) ...
[ess-site:] require 'essd-els ...
[ess-site:] require 'ess-bugs-l ...
[ess-site:] require 'ess-menu ...
[ess-site:] require 'ess-toolbar ...
[ess-site:] before (ess-r-s-versions-creation) ...
[ess-site:] before creating ess-versions-* ...
[ess-site:] (let ... before (ess-r-versions-create) ...
[ess-site:] after ess-versions-created ...
[ess-site:] after ess-check-R-prog... ...
[ido:]
[ess-site:] *very* end ...
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-arc-d.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-bugs-d.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-bugs-l.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-compat.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-comp.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-custom.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-dde.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-debug.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/essd-els.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-developer.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-eldoc.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-font-lock.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-gretl.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-help.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-inf.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-install.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-jags-d.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-julia.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-lsp-l.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-menu.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-mode.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-mouse.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-noweb.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-noweb-font-lock-mode.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-noweb-mode.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-omg-d.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-omg-l.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-r-a.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-r-args.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-r-d.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-rd.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-rdired.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-r-gui.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-roxy.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-rutils.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-s3-d.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-s4-d.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-sas-a.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-sas-d.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-sas-l.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-send2.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-send.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-site.elc
enabling speedbar support
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-s-l.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-sp3-d.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-sp4-d.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-sp5-d.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-sp6-d.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-sp6w-d.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-sta-d.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-sta-l.elc

In toplevel form:
ess-stan-d.el:114:1:Error: Wrong type argument: listp, font-lock-function-name-face
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-swv.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-toolbar.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-tracebug.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-trns.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-utils.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-vst-d.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/ess-xls-d.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/make-regexp.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/mouseme.elc
Wrote /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/ess/msdos.elc
ERROR: install script from ess package failed
dpkg: error processing ess (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 ess

Thanks!