package yaws 1.82-2 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 1

[Matthew Breithaupt]

Binary package hint: yaws

The problems seems to come from the package yaws-chat. I cannot uninstall or repair it, every time it says that the postinstall returned exit status 1. This happens whenever I run package manager to update anything on this system.

I just installed yaws-chat out of curiosity, and now it's stuck on my system not working and bugging me every time i run package manager.

ProblemType: Package
AptOrdering:
 yaws-chat: Purge
 yaws: Purge
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Aug 8 12:56:56 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
ErrorMessage: subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release amd64 (20091027)
Package: yaws 1.82-2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
SourcePackage: yaws
Title: package yaws 1.82-2 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic x86_64

[Matthew Breithaupt (mbbreit)]

Ok, I have found the cause of the problem. Yaws could not start because I also had wwwoffled running, which listens on the same ports 8080 and 8443. After I stopped wwwoffled ("/etc/init.d/wwwoffled stop"), I tried again. First attempt failed, but this was because yaws install script tries to do a restart of yaws, which fails when it is not running. Therefore doing a "/etc/init.d/yaws start" before "apt-get purge yaws" allowed it to uninstall smoothly.

I still consider this a usability bug, because for many users like me who want to set up a small home web server and try out all the relevant packages, the installers should check if ports are in use and at least display a warning, automatically fall over to a new port number, or prompt the user for a preferred port number.

The way it is now, it fails to install in such a way that it also fails to uninstall, and you have to hunt around for the cause just to even get rid of the package.

Now that I know the cause of the problem, I will probably reinstall yaws at some later time (when I finish my Masters) :-)

[Karl Å (karl-astrom)]

Thank you thank you thank you Matthew, I was going mental trying to get this package to stop breaking my upgrades.
Not being able to run a package because a port is busy is ok, not being able to uninstall or reinstall a package because a very commonly used port is busy is a bad bad bug IMHO