Package: dpkg Version: 1.15.8.10 Severity: normal Today, we were assisting a user on #debian at irc.oftc.net. He had installed a package from a third-party source that included a bad .postrm maintainer script. The script was executable, yet completely empty. The package was therefore not removable, even with --force-remove-reinstreq as it would cause an "Exec format error" and refuse to remove it.
Please ensure dpkg can handle such broken maintainer scripts (either upon removal, or even better, upon installation so the problem is noticed and addressed earlier) as a user attempting to remove such a broken package will be unable to do so without expert intervention. This is a transcript of the attempted removal: $ sudo dpkg --remove --force-remove-reinstreq caine-from-deb dpkg: warning: overriding problem because --force enabled: Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should reinstall it before attempting a removal. (Reading database ... 146919 files and directories currently installed.) Removing caine-from-deb ... dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute installed post-removal script (/var/lib/dpkg/info/caine-from-deb.postrm): Exec format error dpkg: error processing caine-from-deb (--remove): subprocess installed post-removal script returned error exit status 2 Errors were encountered while processing: caine-from-deb Of course, once we had determined the .postrm was empty, merely removing the offending maintainer script enabled removal of the package, but this sort of analysis is beyond the average user to accomplish on their own. Thanks, Ben -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
