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!