package screen 4.3.1-2build1 failed to install/upgrade: new screen package pre-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1

[Wim Cos]

This happened after doing sudo do-release-upgrade.

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: screen 4.3.1-2build1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-135.161-generic 4.4.140
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-135-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.3
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Sep 23 14:54:34 2018
ErrorMessage: new screen package pre-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-04-27 (878 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Server 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20160420.3)
Python3Details: /usr/bin/python3.6, Python 3.6.6, python3-minimal, 3.6.5-3ubuntu1
PythonDetails: /usr/bin/python2.7, Python 2.7.15rc1, python-minimal, 2.7.15~rc1-1
RelatedPackageVersions:
 dpkg 1.19.0.5ubuntu2
 apt 1.6.3ubuntu0.1
SourcePackage: screen
Title: package screen 4.3.1-2build1 failed to install/upgrade: new screen package pre-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to bionic on 2018-09-23 (0 days ago)

[Robie Basak (racb)]

From log:

Preparing to unpack .../screen_4.6.2-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
chmod: cannot access '/run/screen': No such file or directory
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/screen_4.6.2-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 new screen package pre-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1

[Robie Basak (racb)]

Thank you for your report and helping to make Ubuntu better.

The relevant code that failed is here: https://git.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/screen/tree/debian/screen.preinst?h=ubuntu/bionic-devel

As far as I can tell, this would only happen if /run/screen/ didn't exist prior to your release upgrade attempt. This shouldn't be the case, and I cannot reproduce it in Xenial. Usually this directory is created through /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/screen-cleanup.conf (/var/run symlinks to /run).

I also see the following errors in your logs:

[ 1226.031610] systemd[1]: systemd-timesyncd.service: Cannot add dependency job, ignoring: Unit systemd-timesyncd.service is not loaded properly: Invalid argument.
[...]
[ 1227.088532] systemd[1]: Failed to connect to system bus: No such file or directory
[ 1227.088618] systemd[1]: Failed to initialize D-Bus connection: No such file or directory

Is it possible that your system was broken in some way before you attempted an upgrade, causing tmpfiles.d to not run and therefore have no /run/screen created?

Unfortunately I don't think we'll be able to make any progress in finding out whether this is a bug somewhere or was some kind of local problem on your system without steps to reproduce the problem. If you manage to find steps to reproduce the problem, please post them and then change the bug status back to New.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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