I also ran into this, but I reported it unfortunately under upgrade-system here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/upgrade-system/+bug/996379 Here is some output of /var/log/dist-upgrade/main.log [...] 2012-05-07 23:30:21,678 DEBUG apt btrfs snapshots supported: False 2012-05-07 23:30:21,679 DEBUG cache aufs_rw_dir: /tmp/ 2012-05-07 23:30:21,679 DEBUG Free space on /: 1472831488 2012-05-07 23:30:21,679 DEBUG Dir /usr mounted on / 2012-05-07 23:30:21,679 DEBUG Dir /var mounted on / 2012-05-07 23:30:21,679 DEBUG Dir /boot mounted on / 2012-05-07 23:30:21,679 DEBUG Dir /var/cache/apt/archives mounted on / 2012-05-07 23:30:21,679 DEBUG Dir /tmp mounted on / 2012-05-07 23:30:21,679 DEBUG Dir /home mounted on / 2012-05-07 23:30:21,683 DEBUG Dir /tmp mounted on / 2012-05-07 23:30:21,683 DEBUG fs_free contains: '{'/var': , '/tmp': , '/usr': , '/boot': , '/home': , '/': , '/var/cache/apt/archives': }' 2012-05-07 23:30:22,310 DEBUG linux-image-3.2.0-24-generic (new-install) added with 28219595 to boot space 2012-05-07 23:30:22,797 DEBUG dir '/var/cache/apt/archives' needs '975438014' of '' (1472831488.000000) 2012-05-07 23:30:22,798 DEBUG dir '/usr' needs '378480640' of '' (497393474.000000) 2012-05-07 23:30:22,798 DEBUG dir '/usr' needs '52428800' of '' (118912834.000000) 2012-05-07 23:30:22,798 DEBUG dir '/boot' needs '28219595' of '' (66484034.000000) 2012-05-07 23:30:22,798 DEBUG dir '/tmp' needs '5242880' of '' (38264439.000000) 2012-05-07 23:30:22,798 DEBUG dir '/' needs '10485760' of '' (33021559.000000) 2012-05-07 23:30:22,798 DEBUG dir '/tmp' needs '0.0' of '' (22535799.000000) 2012-05-07 23:30:22,798 DEBUG dir '/usr' needs '0.0' of '' (22535799.000000) [...] 2012-05-07 23:38:28,420 INFO cache.commit() 2012-05-07 23:38:28,420 DEBUG failed to SystemUnLock() (E:Nicht gesperrt) 2012-05-08 00:06:13,174 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: '/var/cache/apt/archives/ghc_7.4.1-1ubuntu2_i386.deb': 'failed in write on buffer copy for backend dpkg-deb during `./usr/lib/ghc/ghc-7.4.1/libHSghc-7.4.1.a': No space left on device' 2012-05-08 00:06:13,558 DEBUG running apport_pkgfailure() ghc: failed in write on buffer copy for backend dpkg-deb during `./usr/lib/ghc/ghc-7.4.1/libHSghc-7.4.1.a2012-05-08 00:06:14,053 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: '/var/cache/apt/archives/ghc_7.4.1-1ubuntu2_i386.deb': 'failed in write on buffer copy for backend dpkg-deb during `./usr/lib/ghc/ghc-7.4.1/libHSghc-7.4.1.a': No space left on device' 2012-05-08 00:17:23,434 WARNING no activity on terminal for 240 seconds (libghc-mtl-dev wird entpackt) 2012-05-08 00:18:18,253 DEBUG got a conffile-prompt from dpkg for file: '/etc/sudoers' 2012-05-08 00:26:07,441 WARNING no activity on terminal for 240 seconds (alsa-utils wird konfiguriert) [...] This spammed me later with a bunch of apport message boxes: 2012-05-08 00:33:51,970 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'ghc': 'package ghc is already installed and configured' 2012-05-08 00:33:51,970 DEBUG running apport_pkgfailure() ghc: package ghc is already installed and configured 2012-05-08 00:33:51,997 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'ghc': 'package ghc is already installed and configured' 2012-05-08 00:34:32,054 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-syb-dev': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:34:32,054 DEBUG running apport_pkgfailure() libghc-syb-dev: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured 2012-05-08 00:34:32,057 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-syb-dev': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:35:20,461 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-x11-dev': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:35:20,462 DEBUG running apport_pkgfailure() libghc-x11-dev: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured 2012-05-08 00:35:20,483 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-x11-dev': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:35:37,812 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-utf8-string-dev': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:35:37,812 DEBUG running apport_pkgfailure() libghc-utf8-string-dev: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured 2012-05-08 00:35:37,815 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-utf8-string-dev': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:35:46,266 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-x11-xft-dev': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:35:46,266 DEBUG running apport_pkgfailure() libghc-x11-xft-dev: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured 2012-05-08 00:35:46,275 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-x11-xft-dev': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:35:54,422 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-transformers-dev': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:35:54,422 DEBUG running apport_pkgfailure() libghc-transformers-dev: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured 2012-05-08 00:35:54,425 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-transformers-dev': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:36:06,073 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-mtl-dev': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:36:06,073 DEBUG running apport_pkgfailure() libghc-mtl-dev: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured 2012-05-08 00:36:06,077 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-mtl-dev': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:36:22,062 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-random-dev': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:36:22,062 DEBUG running apport_pkgfailure() libghc-random-dev: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured 2012-05-08 00:36:22,065 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-random-dev': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:36:33,885 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-xmonad-dev': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:36:33,885 DEBUG running apport_pkgfailure() libghc-xmonad-dev: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured 2012-05-08 00:36:33,888 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-xmonad-dev': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:36:46,444 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-xmonad-contrib-dev': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:36:46,444 DEBUG running apport_pkgfailure() libghc-xmonad-contrib-dev: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured 2012-05-08 00:36:46,446 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-xmonad-contrib-dev': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:36:56,517 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'ghc-haddock': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:36:56,517 DEBUG running apport_pkgfailure() ghc-haddock: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured 2012-05-08 00:36:56,535 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'ghc-haddock': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:37:14,181 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-x11-doc': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:37:14,181 DEBUG running apport_pkgfailure() libghc-x11-doc: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured 2012-05-08 00:37:14,190 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-x11-doc': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:37:24,254 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-mtl-doc': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:37:24,254 DEBUG running apport_pkgfailure() libghc-mtl-doc: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured 2012-05-08 00:37:24,257 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-mtl-doc': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:37:33,559 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-x11-xft-doc': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:37:33,559 DEBUG running apport_pkgfailure() libghc-x11-xft-doc: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured 2012-05-08 00:37:33,562 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-x11-xft-doc': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:37:42,044 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-xmonad-contrib-doc': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:37:42,044 DEBUG running apport_pkgfailure() libghc-xmonad-contrib-doc: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured 2012-05-08 00:37:42,059 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-xmonad-contrib-doc': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:37:53,141 WARNING no activity on terminal for 240 seconds (xul-ext-ubufox wird konfiguriert) 2012-05-08 00:37:53,152 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-xmonad-doc': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:37:53,152 DEBUG running apport_pkgfailure() libghc-xmonad-doc: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured 2012-05-08 00:37:53,155 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-xmonad-doc': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:38:04,413 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-transformers-doc': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:38:04,413 DEBUG running apport_pkgfailure() libghc-transformers-doc: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured 2012-05-08 00:38:04,416 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'libghc-transformers-doc': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:38:13,889 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'ghc-doc': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:38:13,889 DEBUG running apport_pkgfailure() ghc-doc: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured 2012-05-08 00:38:13,891 ERROR got an error from dpkg for pkg: 'ghc-doc': 'dependency problems - leaving unconfigured' 2012-05-08 00:38:28,635 DEBUG cache.commit() returned None 2012-05-08 00:38:28,635 DEBUG enabling apt cron job 2012-05-08 00:38:28,635 DEBUG icon theme changed, re-reading 2012-05-08 00:38:28,637 DEBUG openCache() 2012-05-08 00:38:28,638 DEBUG failed to SystemUnLock() (E:Nicht gesperrt) 2012-05-08 00:38:28,987 DEBUG /openCache(), new cache size 38362 2012-05-08 00:38:28,987 DEBUG plugins for condition 'PostUpgrade' are '[]' 2012-05-08 00:38:28,987 DEBUG plugins for condition 'precisePostUpgrade' are '[]' 2012-05-08 00:38:28,987 DEBUG plugins for condition 'from_oneiricPostUpgrade' are '[]' Maybe apport could collect all those error messages in one single bug-report window, because those errors are after effects on the failed installation of ghc in my case.