package sysvutils (not installed) failed to install/upgrade: trying to overwrite '/usr/share/man/man1/mesg.1.gz', which is also in package sysvinit-utils 2.88dsf-13.10ubuntu11.1

[Manu N]

sysvutils not able to install via system updates

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: sysvutils (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-48.74-generic 3.2.46
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-48-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.3
Architecture: amd64
Date: Wed Jun 19 10:39:30 2013
DpkgTerminalLog:
 Unpacking sysvutils (from .../sysvutils_2.86.ds1-14.1ubuntu45.1_amd64.deb) ...
 dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/sysvutils_2.86.ds1-14.1ubuntu45.1_amd64.deb (--unpack):
  trying to overwrite '/usr/share/man/man1/mesg.1.gz', which is also in package sysvinit-utils 2.88dsf-13.10ubuntu11.1
DuplicateSignature: package:sysvutils:(not installed):trying to overwrite '/usr/share/man/man1/mesg.1.gz', which is also in package sysvinit-utils 2.88dsf-13.10ubuntu11.1
ErrorMessage: trying to overwrite '/usr/share/man/man1/mesg.1.gz', which is also in package sysvinit-utils 2.88dsf-13.10ubuntu11.1
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
MarkForUpload: True
SourcePackage: sysvinit
Title: package sysvutils (not installed) failed to install/upgrade: trying to overwrite '/usr/share/man/man1/mesg.1.gz', which is also in package sysvinit-utils 2.88dsf-13.10ubuntu11.1
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Alex Malkevich (malkevich-alex)]

Here the error log in Update Manager (part):
....
(Reading database ... 521293 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking sysvutils (from .../sysvutils_2.86.ds1-14.1ubuntu45_i386.deb) ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/sysvutils_2.86.ds1-14.1ubuntu45_i386.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite '/usr/share/man/man1/mesg.1.gz', which is also in package sysvinit-utils 2.88dsf-13.10ubuntu11.1
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/sysvutils_2.86.ds1-14.1ubuntu45_i386.deb
Error in function:
....
But function name is not displayed.

[Robert Sink (insink71)]

This occurs [for me] with an update to the sysvutils package. Being that I typically try to have the "latest and greatest" on my machine, I decided I'd try deinstalling the "System-V-like utilities" and then reinstalling [maybe even pulling in this latest update. Welp, I encountered this dialogue on my removal attempt:
[Package Dependencies Cannot Be Resolved]
...
The following packages have unmet dependencies:

adduser: Depends: perl-base (>= 5.6.0) but 5.14.2-6ubuntu2.3 is to be installed
         Depends: passwd (>= 1:4.0.12) but 1:4.1.4.2+svn3283-3ubuntu5.1 is to be installed
libsm6: libxaw7: openoffice.org-core: Depends: libgcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1-21) but 1:4.6.3-1ubuntu5 is to be installed
openssh-client: procps: Depends: upstart-job but it is a virtual package
upstart: Depends: libc6 (>= 2.9) but 2.15-0ubuntu10.4 is to be installed
         Depends: libudev0 (>= 151) but 175-0ubuntu9.4 is to be installed

So, not only can I not update the package; Removal is futile as well it seems.

Rob

[Hans Joachim Desserud (hjd)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This particular bug has already been reported and is a duplicate of bug 1001904, so it is being marked as such. Please look at the other bug report to see if there is any missing information that you can provide, or to see if there is a workaround for the bug. Additionally, any further discussion regarding the bug should occur in the other report. Feel free to continue to report any other bugs you may find.