Attempting upgrade to Utopic Unicorn - "package lilypond-doc 2.16.2-3 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1"

[wes.ovall]

Utopic Unicorn 14.10

lilypond:
  Installed: 2.18.0-1
  Candidate: 2.18.0-1
  Version table:
 *** 2.18.0-1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ utopic/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Expected: Distro Upgrade - including this package

What happened: Distro Upgrade - without this package

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.10
Package: lilypond-doc 2.16.2-3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-24.46-generic 3.13.9
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: vboxpci vboxnetadp vboxnetflt vboxdrv
ApportVersion: 2.14.7-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Aug 31 23:02:27 2014
DuplicateSignature: package:lilypond-doc:2.16.2-3:subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1
ErrorMessage: subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1
InstallationDate: Installed on 2011-10-05 (1062 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release amd64 (20110427.1)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: lilypond
Title: package lilypond-doc 2.16.2-3 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to utopic on 2014-09-01 (0 days ago)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[[e-mail] (sebastien-bugzilla)]

Hi,

Same problem for me with package lilypond-doc_2.18.0-1_all.deb. I've filled a new bug (#1364616) in which I give the log of installation. And I noticed the error :

"dpkg-maintscript-helper: error: original symlink target is not an absolute path"

I've extracted the file lilypond-doc_2.18.0-1_all.deb and when I go in directory lilypond-doc_2.18.0-1_all/DEBIAN there some files (see attachment) which all contains a command which lead to an error when I'm trying to execute :

sebastien@utopic:~$ dpkg-maintscript-helper supports symlink_to_dir
dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_NAME missing
dpkg-maintscript-helper: warning: environment variable DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_PACKAGE missing

I don't know if that could be linked to the bug. But someone more experienced in deb package structure will probably confirm if I'm wrong or right.

Thank you for your help.

[[e-mail] (sebastien-bugzilla)]

Hi I think I found a way to solve the bug.

1-/ download the package and unzip it in a working directory (~/work for example).
2-/ go to ~/work/lilypond-doc_2.18.0-1_all/DEBIAN directory and suppress the files named "postinst", "postrm" and "preinst".
3-/ go to the extraction directory (~/work)
4-/ create the new deb file : dpkg -b lilypond-doc_2.18.0-1_all/ lilypond-doc_2.18.0-2_all.deb (I've changed the name of the file.deb but I'm not sure it is necessary).
5-/ install the new package with sudo dpkg -i lilypond-doc_2.18.0-2_all.deb.

The doc is in place in the directory.

[eris23 (jdkatz23)]

Debian's lilypond-doc 2.18.2-1 fixes the problem https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=758778

[Christopher (soft-kristal)]

This from Synaptic

Selecting previously unselected package lilypond-doc.
(Reading database ... 403723 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../lilypond-doc_2.18.0-1_all.deb ...
dpkg-maintscript-helper: error: original symlink target is not an absolute path
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/lilypond-doc_2.18.0-1_all.deb (--unpack):
 subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg-maintscript-helper: error: original symlink target is not an absolute path
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
 subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/lilypond-doc_2.18.0-1_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
A package failed to install. Trying to recover:

[Christopher (soft-kristal)]

I don't have lilypond on this my test partition and am wondering if I removed the application that it installed it, would I then be able to uninstall lilypond-doc?

[Christopher (soft-kristal)]

This should also be marked as a security risk as other updates cannot execute while this bug persists.

[Christopher (soft-kristal)]

My updates - including security related are accumulating, and nothing can be updated while this file is present. Please help be get rid of it.

The most recent (today 13:00) partial update crashed the update manager.

[Christopher (soft-kristal)]

I solved my issue with a GUI solution.

alt-f2 and at the prompt enter gksu-nautilus. Go to var/cache/apt/archives and select all lilypond files (there should be 5). For safety, archive them first, then move them to the trash.

Close and run the update manager. It will download the lilypond files again and install them properly.

[[e-mail] (sebastien-bugzilla)]

I've just received an update for the package lilypond-doc (I'm switching from version 2.18.0-1 to version 2.18.2-3). In the release they explicitely say that this version solve the bug https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=758787.

So Christopher I think you installed the new version of the package and it solve the bug.