dist upgrade nightmare!

[Jude DaShiell]

I tried taking a friend's machine from lenny to squeeze and it turned into 
a disaster.  As a consequence of the attempt his entire package update and 
repair systems are broken.  apt-get -f install can't fix anything and dpkg 
--configure -a can't fix anything anymore and as a consequence of those 
two acts, it's impossible to update his system.  I can't even downgrade 
back to lenny!  What I would like to know is if emergency procedures exist 
that can clear the mess out that these operations created and get the 
system back to some known state.  I wouldn't mind this so much if the 
upgrade had simply failed but a system breaking like this where even 
though useable with the squeeze kernel on it is there nothing can be 
installed or uninstalled with apt-get and aptitude apparently got turned 
into a zombi placed in not fully installed or uninstalled or deferred 
status.  If I had done this to my own computer that would be one thing, 
but this is a computer of a friend and I don't appreciate these tools for 
having ended up leaving this kind of damage.


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