Public bug reported: nate@frontier:~$ lsb_release -a No LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 16.10 Release: 16.10 Codename: yakkety
I had installed Exim4 MTA. I had a problem in Exim4 unrelated to the dpkg error. I reinstalled Exim4 MTA and became entangled in dependency hell. This always happens with Exim4. Dpkg does something to get confused. This is very much a bug. Postfix is not an option. I have another vm running Exim4 at the moment, but would like to get Exim4 running on the Ubuntu machine. I tried following this howto to solve it and that failed; https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2309546 Here is the output of trying to reinstall; nate@frontier:~$ sudo apt install exim4 [sudo] password for nate: Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required: linux-headers-4.8.0-22 linux-headers-4.8.0-22-generic linux-headers-4.8.0-26 linux-headers-4.8.0-26-generic linux-image-4.8.0-22-generic linux-image-4.8.0-26-generic linux-image-extra-4.8.0-22-generic linux-image-extra-4.8.0-26-generic Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them. The following additional packages will be installed: exim4-base exim4-config exim4-daemon-light Suggested packages: eximon4 exim4-doc-html | exim4-doc-info spf-tools-perl swaks The following NEW packages will be installed: exim4 exim4-base exim4-config exim4-daemon-light 0 upgraded, 4 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 1,638 kB of archives. After this operation, 3,780 kB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu yakkety/main amd64 exim4-config all 4.87-3ubuntu1 [302 kB] Get:2 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu yakkety/main amd64 exim4-base amd64 4.87-3ubuntu1 [884 kB] Get:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu yakkety/main amd64 exim4-daemon-light amd64 4.87-3ubuntu1 [444 kB] Get:4 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu yakkety/main amd64 exim4 all 4.87-3ubuntu1 [7,872 B] Fetched 1,638 kB in 14s (112 kB/s) Preconfiguring packages ... Selecting previously unselected package exim4-config. (Reading database ... 427338 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../0-exim4-config_4.87-3ubuntu1_all.deb ... Unpacking exim4-config (4.87-3ubuntu1) ... Selecting previously unselected package exim4-base. Preparing to unpack .../1-exim4-base_4.87-3ubuntu1_amd64.deb ... Unpacking exim4-base (4.87-3ubuntu1) ... Selecting previously unselected package exim4-daemon-light. Preparing to unpack .../2-exim4-daemon-light_4.87-3ubuntu1_amd64.deb ... Unpacking exim4-daemon-light (4.87-3ubuntu1) ... Selecting previously unselected package exim4. Preparing to unpack .../3-exim4_4.87-3ubuntu1_all.deb ... Unpacking exim4 (4.87-3ubuntu1) ... Setting up exim4-config (4.87-3ubuntu1) ... exim: failed to find uid for user name "Debian-exim" Invalid new configfile /var/lib/exim4/config.autogenerated.tmp, not installing /var/lib/exim4/config.autogenerated.tmp to /var/lib/exim4/config.autogenerated dpkg: error processing package exim4-config (--configure): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1 Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-19) ... ureadahead will be reprofiled on next reboot dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of exim4-base: exim4-base depends on exim4-config (>= 4.82) | exim4-config-2; however: Package exim4-config is not configured yet. Package exim4-config-2 is not installed. Package exim4-config which provides exim4-config-2 is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing package exim4-base (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure. No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure. dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of exim4: exim4 depends on exim4-base (>= 4.87-3ubuntu1); however: Package exim4-base is not configured yet. exim4 depends on exim4-base (<< 4.87-3ubuntu1.1); however: Package exim4-base is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing package exim4 (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured Processing triggers for doc-base (0.10.7) ... Processing 3 added doc-base files... Registering documents with scrollkeeper... Processing triggers for systemd (231-9ubuntu1) ... Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ... dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of exim4-daemon-light: exim4-daemon-light depends on exim4-base (>= 4.87); however: Package exim4-base is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing package exim4-daemon-light (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already Errors were encountered while processing: exim4-config exim4-base exim4 exim4-daemon-light E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) Here are some things I tried; nate@frontier:~$ sudo apt-get clean exim4 [sudo] password for nate: nate@frontier:~$ sudo apt-get clean exim4 nate@frontier:~$ sudo apt update Hit:1 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu yakkety-security InRelease Hit:2 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu yakkety InRelease Hit:3 http://ppa.launchpad.net/atareao/atareao/ubuntu yakkety InRelease Hit:4 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu yakkety InRelease Get:5 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu yakkety-updates InRelease [102 kB] Hit:6 http://ppa.launchpad.net/stellarium/stellarium-releases/ubuntu yakkety InRelease Hit:7 http://ppa.launchpad.net/system76-dev/stable/ubuntu yakkety InRelease Get:8 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu yakkety-backports InRelease [102 kB] Fetched 204 kB in 1s (191 kB/s) Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done All packages are up to date. nate@frontier:~$ sudo apt-get autoremove Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following packages will be REMOVED: linux-headers-4.8.0-22 linux-headers-4.8.0-22-generic linux-headers-4.8.0-26 linux-headers-4.8.0-26-generic linux-image-4.8.0-22-generic linux-image-4.8.0-26-generic linux-image-extra-4.8.0-22-generic linux-image-extra-4.8.0-26-generic 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 8 to remove and 0 not upgraded. 3 not fully installed or removed. After this operation, 628 MB disk space will be freed. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] n Abort. nate@frontier:~$ sudo dpkg --remove exim4 dpkg: warning: ignoring request to remove exim4, only the config files of which are on the system; use --purge to remove them too nate@frontier:~$ sudo dpkg --purge exim4 (Reading database ... 427523 files and directories currently installed.) Removing exim4 (4.87-3ubuntu1) ... Purging configuration files for exim4 (4.87-3ubuntu1) ... nate@frontier:~$ dpkg -l | grep exim4 iU exim4-base 4.87-3ubuntu1 amd64 support files for all Exim MTA (v4) packages iF exim4-config 4.87-3ubuntu1 all configuration for the Exim MTA (v4) iU exim4-daemon-light 4.87-3ubuntu1 amd64 lightweight Exim MTA (v4) daemon nate@frontier:~$ sudo dpkg --purge exim4-base dpkg: dependency problems prevent removal of exim4-base: exim4-daemon-light depends on exim4-base (>= 4.87). dpkg: error processing package exim4-base (--purge): dependency problems - not removing Errors were encountered while processing: exim4-base nate@frontier:~$ sudo dpkg --purge exim4-config dpkg: dependency problems prevent removal of exim4-config: exim4-base depends on exim4-config (>= 4.82) | exim4-config-2; however: Package exim4-config is to be removed. Package exim4-config-2 is not installed. Package exim4-config which provides exim4-config-2 is to be removed. exim4-base depends on exim4-config (>= 4.82) | exim4-config-2; however: Package exim4-config is to be removed. Package exim4-config-2 is not installed. Package exim4-config which provides exim4-config-2 is to be removed. dpkg: error processing package exim4-config (--purge): dependency problems - not removing Errors were encountered while processing: exim4-config nate@frontier:~$ sudo dpkg --purge --force-remove-reinstreq exim4-base dpkg: dependency problems prevent removal of exim4-base: exim4-daemon-light depends on exim4-base (>= 4.87). dpkg: error processing package exim4-base (--purge): dependency problems - not removing Errors were encountered while processing: exim4-base nate@frontier:~$ sudo dpkg --purge --force-remove-reinstreq exim4-daemon-light (Reading database ... 50% (Reading database ... 427523 files and directories currently installed.) Removing exim4-daemon-light (4.87-3ubuntu1) ... Purging configuration files for exim4-daemon-light (4.87-3ubuntu1) ... Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ... nate@frontier:~$ nate@frontier:~$ sudo dpkg --purge --force-remove-reinstreq exim4-config dpkg: dependency problems prevent removal of exim4-config: exim4-base depends on exim4-config (>= 4.82) | exim4-config-2; however: Package exim4-config is to be removed. Package exim4-config-2 is not installed. Package exim4-config which provides exim4-config-2 is to be removed. exim4-base depends on exim4-config (>= 4.82) | exim4-config-2; however: Package exim4-config is to be removed. Package exim4-config-2 is not installed. Package exim4-config which provides exim4-config-2 is to be removed. dpkg: error processing package exim4-config (--purge): dependency problems - not removing Errors were encountered while processing: exim4-config nate@frontier:~$ sudo dpkg --purge --force-remove-reinstreq exim4-base (Reading database ... 427495 files and directories currently installed.) Removing exim4-base (4.87-3ubuntu1) ... Purging configuration files for exim4-base (4.87-3ubuntu1) ... Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ... Processing triggers for doc-base (0.10.7) ... Processing 3 removed doc-base files... Registering documents with scrollkeeper... Processing triggers for systemd (231-9ubuntu1) ... Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-19) ... ureadahead will be reprofiled on next reboot nate@frontier:~$ sudo dpkg --purge --force-remove-reinstreq exim4-config (Reading database ... 427422 files and directories currently installed.) Removing exim4-config (4.87-3ubuntu1) ... Purging configuration files for exim4-config (4.87-3ubuntu1) ... dpkg-statoverride: warning: no override present dpkg: warning: while removing exim4-config, directory '/var/lib/exim4' not empty so not removed Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ... nate@frontier:~$ sudo apt update Hit:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu yakkety InRelease Get:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu yakkety-security InRelease [102 kB] Hit:3 http://ppa.launchpad.net/atareao/atareao/ubuntu yakkety InRelease Hit:4 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu yakkety InRelease Get:5 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu yakkety-updates InRelease [102 kB] Hit:6 http://ppa.launchpad.net/stellarium/stellarium-releases/ubuntu yakkety InRelease Hit:7 http://ppa.launchpad.net/system76-dev/stable/ubuntu yakkety InRelease Get:8 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu yakkety-backports InRelease [102 kB] Fetched 306 kB in 0s (310 kB/s) Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done All packages are up to date. nate@frontier:~$ sudo apt upgrade Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done Calculating upgrade... Done The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required: linux-headers-4.8.0-22 linux-headers-4.8.0-22-generic linux-headers-4.8.0-26 linux-headers-4.8.0-26-generic linux-image-4.8.0-22-generic linux-image-4.8.0-26-generic linux-image-extra-4.8.0-22-generic linux-image-extra-4.8.0-26-generic Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them. 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. nate@frontier:~$ sudo apt-get clean exim4 nate@frontier:~$ sudo apt-get clean exim4-config nate@frontier:~$ sudo apt-get clean exim4-base nate@frontier:~$ sudo apt-get clean exim4-daemon-light nate@frontier:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.10 Package: dpkg 1.18.10ubuntu1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.8.0-30.32-generic 4.8.6 Uname: Linux 4.8.0-30-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.20.3-0ubuntu8 Architecture: amd64 CurrentDesktop: Unity Date: Fri Dec 9 22:23:45 2016 ProcEnviron: LANGUAGE=en_US PATH=(custom, no user) XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set> LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash SourcePackage: dpkg UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to yakkety on 2016-10-17 (54 days ago) ** Affects: dpkg (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: New ** Tags: amd64 apport-bug dpkg exim4 mta yakkety -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1648934 Title: Dpkg fails to reinstall MTA Exim4 due to dependency errors; E: Sub- process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/dpkg/+bug/1648934/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
