I had a system crash which hosed some files in /var. I've been trying to reapply "apt-get upgrade" to restore the record of what's installed where.
Unfortunately debconf is not cooperating. It seems to be unable to re-ask its questions in order to restore the ones which got lost during the crash. For instance, exporting DEBCONF_DEBUG='.*', then installing xserver-xorg, say, I get # dpkg -i xserver-xorg_1%3a7.0.18_all.deb (Reading database ... 197883 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking xserver-xorg (from xserver-xorg_1%3a7.0.18_all.deb) ... debconf (db): making DbDriver of type File debconf (db config): started; filename is /var/cache/debconf/config.dat debconf (db config): loading database debconf (db): making DbDriver of type File debconf (db passwords): started; filename is /var/cache/debconf/passwords.dat debconf (db passwords): loading database debconf (db): making DbDriver of type Stack debconf (db): making DbDriver of type File debconf (db templatedb): started; filename is /var/cache/debconf/templates.dat debconf (db templatedb): loading database debconf (developer): frontend started debconf (user): trying frontend Dialog debconf (developer): frontend running, package name is xserver-xorg debconf (developer): starting /var/lib/dpkg/tmp.ci/config configure debconf (db): making DbDriver of type File debconf (db config): started; filename is /var/cache/debconf/config.dat debconf (db config): loading database debconf (db): making DbDriver of type File debconf (db passwords): started; filename is /var/cache/debconf/passwords.dat debconf (db passwords): loading database debconf (db): making DbDriver of type Stack debconf (db): making DbDriver of type File debconf (db templatedb): started; filename is /var/cache/debconf/templates.dat debconf (db templatedb): loading database debconf (db configdb): trying to owners(passwd/root-password-crypted) .. debconf (db config): cache miss on passwd/root-password-crypted debconf (db configdb): owners done by passwords debconf (db configdb): trying to owners(passwd/user-password-crypted) .. debconf (db config): cache miss on passwd/user-password-crypted debconf (db configdb): owners done by passwords debconf (db configdb): trying to owners(passwd/root-password) .. debconf (db config): cache miss on passwd/root-password debconf (db configdb): owners done by passwords debconf (db configdb): trying to owners(passwd/root-password-again) .. debconf (db config): cache miss on passwd/root-password-again debconf (db configdb): owners done by passwords debconf (db configdb): trying to owners(passwd/user-password-again) .. debconf (db config): cache miss on passwd/user-password-again debconf (db configdb): owners done by passwords debconf (db configdb): trying to owners(passwd/user-password) .. debconf (db config): cache miss on passwd/user-password debconf (db configdb): owners done by passwords debconf (db configdb): trying to owners(gnumeric) .. debconf (db configdb): owners done by config debconf (db configdb): trying to owners(ssl-cert) .. debconf (db configdb): owners done by config ... debconf (db configdb): trying to owners(adduser) .. debconf (db configdb): owners done by config debconf (developer): <-- GET xserver-xorg/config/inputdevice/mouse/emulate3buttons debconf (developer): --> 10 xserver-xorg/config/inputdevice/mouse/emulate3buttons doesn't exist debconf (developer): <-- GET xserver-xorg/config/inputdevice/mouse/zaxismapping debconf (developer): --> 10 xserver-xorg/config/inputdevice/mouse/zaxismapping doesn't exist debconf (developer): <-- GET xserver-xorg/config/monitor/selection-method debconf (developer): --> 10 xserver-xorg/config/monitor/selection-method doesn't exist dpkg: error processing xserver-xorg_1%3a7.0.18_all.deb (--install): subprocess pre-installation script returned error exit status 10 Errors were encountered while processing: xserver-xorg_1%3a7.0.18_all.deb This example used xserver-xorg, but the same type of error appears with any debconf using package. So as far as I can tell the installation is failing because debconf cannot find xserver-xorg/config/monitor/selection-method or many other debconf entries, but it does not seem to be willing to create those entries anew. Any permution I try seems to fail in the same way. I've tried dpkg --force-all -i dpkg-reconfigure --force dpkg-preconfigure They all refuse to finish configuring the packages, saying "10 debconf/question doesn't exist". I haven't filed a bug against debconf yet since I'm not certain it is a bug in debconf. I hope you can provide useful clues. Drew -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]