dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_PACKAGE missing

[dino99]

Binary package hint: dpkg

natty i386 updated

into a terminal, get this output:

oem@oem-desktop:~$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure apparmor
[sudo] password for oem:
dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_NAME missing
dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_PACKAGE missing
 * Starting AppArmor profiles

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: dpkg 1.15.8.7ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.37-12.26-generic-pae 2.6.37
Uname: Linux 2.6.37-12-generic-pae i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Architecture: i386
Date: Sat Jan 22 18:48:00 2011
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=fr_FR:fr:en_GB:en
 LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8
 LC_MESSAGES=fr_FR.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: dpkg

[Hans Joachim Desserud (hjd)]

Thanks for taking your time to report this issue and making Ubuntu better.

I get the same error message when running dpkg-reconfigure on Natty. Looks like the variables aren't set, though the reconfiguring seems to run without problems.

[Raphaël Hertzog (hertzog)]

It's a bug in debconf. Debconf should set those variables. Alternatively apparmor can hardcode its package name in the postinst script.

[dino99 (9d9)]

Still get these errors on Oneiric i386 A1
In failsafe mode booting i get: dpkg-maintscript-helper: error: couldn't identify the package

[Daniel Holbach (dholbach)]

In a very quick analysis I found that all the packages (on my system) that use "if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports ..." are affected.

daniel@daydream:~$ grep dpkg-maintscript-helper /var/lib/dpkg/info/*.postinst | grep support
/var/lib/dpkg/info/apparmor.postinst:if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports rm_conffile; then
/var/lib/dpkg/info/libreoffice-common.postinst: if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports rm_conffile; then
/var/lib/dpkg/info/libreoffice-common.postinst: if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports mv_conffile; then
/var/lib/dpkg/info/lightdm.postinst:if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports mv_conffile; then
/var/lib/dpkg/info/ntpdate.postinst:if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports rm_conffile; then
/var/lib/dpkg/info/ntpdate.postinst:if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports mv_conffile; then
daniel@daydream:~$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure libreoffice-common
dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_NAME missing
dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_PACKAGE missing
dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_NAME missing
dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_PACKAGE missing
daniel@daydream:~$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure ntpdate
dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_NAME missing
dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_PACKAGE missing
dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_NAME missing
dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_PACKAGE missing
daniel@daydream:~$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure apparmor
dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_NAME missing
dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_PACKAGE missing
 * Starting AppArmor profiles Skipping profile in /etc/apparmor.d/disable: usr.bin.firefox
                                                                                                                                               [ OK ]
 * Reloading AppArmor profiles Skipping profile in /etc/apparmor.d/disable: usr.bin.firefox
                                                                                                                                               [ OK ]
daniel@daydream:~$

Package WITHOUT "if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports ..."

daniel@daydream:~$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure gedit
update-alternatives: /usr/bin/gedit wird verwendet, um /usr/bin/gnome-text-editor (gnome-text-editor) im Auto-Modus bereitzustellen.
daniel@daydream:~$

[dino99 (9d9)]

Actual Oneiric i386 b2 have the same issue (genuine packages)

[dino99 (9d9)]

Oneiric use debconf 1.5.40ubuntu1, while Sid have 1.5.41 (Debian ), please merge it.

[dino99 (9d9)]

On Oneiric i386 b2, get this issue for the first time today with midori 0.4.0-2. As a result, i cant open midori at all.

sudo dpkg-reconfigure midori
[sudo] password for oem:
dpkg-maintscript-helper: error: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_NAME is required

As it a debconf issue, i'm using debconf 1.5.40ubuntu1 package

[Prasad Murthy (murthy)]

This bug is in Oneiric Ocelot

[Juan Simón (simonbcn)]

Same problem in Oneiric 64 bits.

[Andreas Müller (email-zeitsofa)]

root@workstation:/home# cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=11.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=oneiric
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 11.10"

root@workstation:/home# uname -a
Linux workstation 3.0.0-12-generic #20-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 7 14:50:42 UTC 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

dpkg-reconfigure lightdm
dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_NAME missing
dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_PACKAGE missing

and this bug are on low? *thumbs up*

[tralala28 (tralala28)]

paolo@HPMini:~$ cat /etc/lsb-release

DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=11.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=oneiric
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 11.10"

paolo@HPMini:~$ uname -a

Linux HPMini 3.0.0-12-generic #20-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 7 14:50:42 UTC 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

paolo@HPMini:~$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure lightdm

dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_NAME missing
dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_PACKAGE missing

paolo@HPMini:~$

......... i do not like unity at all (kind of dislike it actually), i installed the gnome3 shell and also wanted to replace lightdm with gdm and i got the error above. (ps. if anybody knows an alternative way to do it instead of using dpkg-reconfigure, send me a pm; i'd appreciate a lot. :)

[dino99 (9d9)]

Actual output on Precise i386 with debconf 1.5.41ubuntu1

oem@oem-desktop:~$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure apparmor
dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_NAME missing
dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_PACKAGE missing

oem@oem-desktop:~$ grep dpkg-maintscript-helper /var/lib/dpkg/info/*.postinst | grep support
/var/lib/dpkg/info/apparmor.postinst:if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports rm_conffile; then
/var/lib/dpkg/info/desktop-base.postinst:if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports rm_conffile 2>/dev/null; then
/var/lib/dpkg/info/libreoffice-common.postinst: if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports rm_conffile; then
/var/lib/dpkg/info/libreoffice-common.postinst: if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports mv_conffile; then
/var/lib/dpkg/info/lightdm-gtk-greeter.postinst:if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports mv_conffile; then
/var/lib/dpkg/info/lightdm.postinst:if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports mv_conffile; then
/var/lib/dpkg/info/ntpdate.postinst:if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports rm_conffile; then
/var/lib/dpkg/info/ntpdate.postinst:if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports mv_conffile; then
/var/lib/dpkg/info/ntp.postinst:if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports rm_conffile; then
/var/lib/dpkg/info/ntp.postinst:if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports mv_conffile; then
/var/lib/dpkg/info/pcmciautils.postinst:if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports rm_conffile; then
/var/lib/dpkg/info/system-tools-backends.postinst:if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports mv_conffile; then
/var/lib/dpkg/info/tmux.postinst:if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports rm_conffile; then
/var/lib/dpkg/info/ttf-unifont.postinst:if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports rm_conffile 2>/dev/null; then

[Robert Yeckley (ryeckley82)]

Thank you, Linux community, for maintaining a well-oiled operating system for me. I'm a multimedia guy and a musician, I CANNOT go without decent multimedia encoders/decoders and unified audio drivers for software. Anyway, I'm just a hack at programming, I'm no expert. I thought back to my MSDOS days, and applied it to UNIX. Here's the solution:

1) CHANGE YOUR GLOBAL VARIABLES

/etc/environment
---------------------
PATH=...
DPKG_MAINTVERSION_NAME="Ubuntu"
DPKG_MAINTVERSION_PACKAGE="[version of Ubuntu]"
---------------------
don't put in the brackets when you fill in version (lucid, maverick, natty, etc).

2) REBOOT IMMEDIATELY.

3) RUN "dpkg-reconfigure -a" one more time.

[Roger Oakes (rogrpuma)]

This is preventing me from successfully installing and using LibreOffice. Please upgrade importance and assign.

[dino99 (9d9)]

Actual output on Precise i386:

oem@oem-desktop:~$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure apparmor
[sudo] password for oem:
dpkg-maintscript-helper: error: couldn't identify the package

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

I should say, before this becomes widespread, that the workaround in comment 14 is entirely wrong: those aren't appropriate values for either DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_NAME or DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_PACKAGE, and there is no way to set those variables correctly in /etc/environment.

I've followed up to the Debian bug for this with a fresh set of patches to try to move this along.