This is trivial to reproduce by installing avahi-dnsconfd and then reinstalling it.
bdmurray@clean-xenial-amd64:~$ sudo apt-get install --reinstall avahi-dnsconfd Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 0 B/14.2 kB of archives. After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used. (Reading database ... 212825 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../avahi-dnsconfd_0.6.32~rc+dfsg-1ubuntu2_amd64.deb ... Job for avahi-daemon.socket canceled. dpkg: warning: subprocess old pre-removal script returned error exit status 1 dpkg: trying script from the new package instead ... Job for avahi-daemon.socket canceled. dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/avahi-dnsconfd_0.6.32~rc+dfsg-1ubuntu2_amd64.deb (--unpack): subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 1 Errors were encountered while processing: /var/cache/apt/archives/avahi-dnsconfd_0.6.32~rc+dfsg-1ubuntu2_amd64.deb E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) ** Changed in: avahi (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided => High ** Changed in: avahi (Ubuntu) Status: New => Triaged -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1760128 Title: package avahi-dnsconfd 0.6.32~rc+dfsg-1ubuntu2 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 1 To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/avahi/+bug/1760128/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs