reassign 530633 xterm retitle 530633 xterm should cleanup improper master alternative x-terminal-emulator.1.gz thanks
On Wed, 27 May 2009, Bram Senders wrote: > There is also an x-terminal-emulator.1.gz file in > /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives, which is not a gzipped file at all, but just > contains the contents: > > --- 8< --- > manual > > > > --- >8 --- > > (including the three empty lines) Is this intended? The existence of this file is the real problem. update-alternatives only create such a file for a master alternative and this one should not exist at all. What is the timestamp of this file ? stat /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/x-terminal-emulator.1.gz Can you check if that time correspond to the upgrade of some terminal related package in /var/log/dpkg.log (or aptitude.log if you use it). I don't know who/what called update-alternatives with x-terminal-emulator.1.gz as master alternative but it's definitely not a side-effect of proper usage of update-alternatives. The new version of update-alternative does many checks that forbids obvious improper usage of update-alternatives but it has to assume that the current installed information is correct. In the case, where it's not, we'll have to include cleanup code in preinst scripts. On Wed, 27 May 2009, Francesco P. Lovergine wrote: > After this operation, 0B of additional disk space will be used. > Setting up xterm (243-1) ... > update-alternatives: warning: forcing reinstallation of alternative > /usr/bin/uxterm because link group > x-terminal-emulator is broken. > Processing triggers for menu ... So there's no failure here for you... what did you change in between? it's not the dpkg update (1.15.1 → 1.15.2) that helped as update-alternatives is the same in those versions. And versions prior to 1.15 don't have the check that generated the failure. Note to xterm maintainers: If we can't identify the faulty package that created this wrong alternative then I suggest you put a work-around in xterm.preinst that simply removes it... update-alternatives --quiet --remove-all x-terminal-emulator.1.gz >/dev/null 2>/dev/null || true Or maybe simply "rm -f /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/x-terminal-emulator.1.gz" as it avoids the temporary removal of /etc/alternatives/x-terminal-emulator.1.gz (and the message "forcing reinstallation of alternative /usr/bin/uxterm because link group x-terminal-emulator is broken" later on...). Note 2: update-alternatives calls are now logged in dpkg.log, in the future it will be easier to find faulty packages. Cheers, -- Raphaël Hertzog Contribuez à Debian et gagnez un cahier de l'admin Debian Lenny : http://www.ouaza.com/wp/2009/03/02/contribuer-a-debian-gagner-un-livre/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
