Upgrade from 11.04 to 11.10 fails when using dpkg-1.16.1~natty+1

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I am upgrading from 11.04 to 11.10. In the "Installing the upgrades" step, the upgrade fails with "Could not install the upgrades. The upgrade has aborted. Your system could be in an unusable state." The errors show up in the distribution upgrade UI as:

E:Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2), E:Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2), ... (repeated many times)

/var/log/dist-upgrade/apt-term.log shows a slightly more specific error (many times):

dpkg: error: configuration error: /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg.d/multiarch:1: unknown option 'foreign-architecture'

I attempted to remove 'user installed' packages in synaptic, but synaptic fails with the same dpkg error. Loading update manager, I receive this error in the UI:

Could not calculate the upgrade

An unresolvable problem occurred while calculating the upgrade.

Please report this bug against the 'update-manager' package and include the following error message:
'E:Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused by held packages.'

/var/log/dist-upgrade/apt.log has

...
  Installing gir1.2-rb-3.0 as Depends of rhythmbox-plugins
  Installing distro-info as Depends of ubuntu-dev-tools
  new important dependency: python-mmkeys
  Installing python-mmkeys as Recommends of quodlibet
  Installing gtk3-engines-unico as Depends of light-themes
  Installing gir1.2-cogl-1.0 as Depends of gir1.2-clutter-1.0
  Installing gir1.2-json-1.0 as Depends of gir1.2-clutter-1.0
  Installing libexporter-lite-perl as Depends of libparse-debcontrol-perl
  new important dependency: libgphoto2-l10n
  Installing libgphoto2-l10n as Recommends of libgphoto2-2
Starting
Starting 2
Investigating (0) python2.7 [ amd64 ] < 2.7.1-5ubuntu2 -> 2.7.2-5ubuntu1 > ( python )
Broken python2.7:amd64 Conflicts on python-profiler [ amd64 ] < 2.6.6-0ubuntu1 > ( multiverse/python ) (<= 2.7.1-2)
  Considering python-profiler:amd64 0 as a solution to python2.7:amd64 1161
  Added python-profiler:amd64 to the remove list
  Fixing python2.7:amd64 via remove of python-profiler:amd64
Investigating (0) libdbusmenu-glib4 [ amd64 ] < none -> 0.5.0-0ubuntu3 > ( libs )
Broken libdbusmenu-glib4:amd64 Breaks on gir1.2-unity-3.0 [ amd64 ] < 3.8.4-0ubuntu1 > ( libs ) (< 3.8.4-0ubuntu2)
  Considering gir1.2-unity-3.0:amd64 5 as a solution to libdbusmenu-glib4:amd64 85
  Added gir1.2-unity-3.0:amd64 to the remove list
  Fixing libdbusmenu-glib4:amd64 via remove of gir1.2-unity-3.0:amd64
Investigating (0) gvfs [ amd64 ] < 1.8.0-0ubuntu3 -> 1.10.0-0ubuntu1 > ( libs )
Broken gvfs:amd64 Conflicts on libgvfscommon0 [ amd64 ] < 1.8.0-0ubuntu3 > ( libs )
  Considering libgvfscommon0:amd64 -1 as a solution to gvfs:amd64 75
  Added libgvfscommon0:amd64 to the remove list
  Fixing gvfs:amd64 via remove of libgvfscommon0:amd64
Investigating (0) libjack-jackd2-0 [ amd64 ] < none -> 1.9.7~dfsg-1ubuntu2 > ( libs )
...
Investigating (2) libpulse-browse0 [ amd64 ] < 1:0.9.22+stable-queue-24-g67d18-0ubuntu3.1 > ( sound )
Broken libpulse-browse0:amd64 Depends on libpulse0 [ amd64 ] < 1:0.9.22+stable-queue-24-g67d18-0ubuntu3.1 -> 1:1.0-0ubuntu3 > ( libs ) (= 1:0.9.22+stable-queue-24-g67d18-0ubuntu3.1)
  Considering libpulse0:amd64 119 as a solution to libpulse-browse0:amd64 5
  Removing libpulse-browse0:amd64 rather than change libpulse0:amd64
 Try to Re-Instate (2) flashplugin-installer:amd64
Investigating (3) indicator-applet [ amd64 ] < 0.4.12-0ubuntu1 > ( gnome )
Broken indicator-applet:amd64 Depends on gnome-panel [ amd64 ] < 1:2.32.1-0ubuntu6.5 -> 1:3.2.0-0ubuntu1 > ( universe/gnome )
  Considering gnome-panel:amd64 20 as a solution to indicator-applet:amd64 20
  Removing indicator-applet:amd64 rather than change gnome-panel:amd64
Investigating (3) padevchooser [ amd64 ] < 0.9.3-2ubuntu4 > ( sound )
Broken padevchooser:amd64 Depends on libpulse-browse0 [ amd64 ] < 1:0.9.22+stable-queue-24-g67d18-0ubuntu3.1 > ( sound ) (>= 0.9.8)
  Considering libpulse-browse0:amd64 119 as a solution to padevchooser:amd64 5
  Removing padevchooser:amd64 rather than change libpulse-browse0:amd64
Done
dpkg: error: configuration error: /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg.d/multiarch:1: unknown option 'foreign-architecture'
.: 19: Can't open base-installer/kernel/.sh
  Installing evince as Depends of ubuntu-desktop
  Setting NOT as auto-installed (direct Depends of pkg in APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections)
    Installing libevince3-3 as Depends of evince
(end of log)

I would like to complete the upgrade to 11.10 without errors. Any suggestions?

--------------------------
To reproduce use a clean install of Ubuntu 11.04 fully patched. Then do

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ondrej/redmine
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dpkg dpkg-dev libdpkg-perl redmine

Then run the Update Manager and attempt upgrade to 11.10 it then fails with the same errors as reported above.

To fix the problem do the following:

sudo rm /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg.d/multiarch
sudo apt-get install dpkg=1.16.0.3ubuntu5
Run the Update Manager again and then the upgrade commenced.