[SOLVED] Purge of package fails

[jbang]

I have recently tried purging a package from my system (Kubuntu 14.04). I used this command:

dpkg purge nokiainternetmodem

This gave the following error message.

dpkg: error processing package nokiainternetmodem (--remove):
subprocess installed post-removal script returned error exit status 1

Now all my attempts at updating packages fails with the same error message. How can I remove this package? Is there any way to find out what causes the error in the post-removal script?

Thanks in advance
Jens

[vinnywright]

where did this package come from and how was it installed ?



VINNY

[Snowhog]

Change into the directory where you downloaded the package. Type: sudo dpkg --remove nokiainternetmodem

[jbang]

where did this package come from and how was it installed ?

It was a .deb-file that came with a wireless modem. I installed it using dpkg.

-- Jens

[jbang]

Change into the directory where you downloaded the package. Type: sudo dpkg --remove nokiainternetmodem

I'm not sure I have the .deb-file anymore. Is there any way to remove the package without the file?

-- Jens

[kubicle]

I'm not sure I have the .deb-file anymore. Is there any way to remove the package without the file?

You don't need the deb package to remove (and you don't need to change to the directory it was installed), once a deb package is installed, dpkg can remove it like any other package.

The error you reported suggests there is a problem with the post-removal script of the package (exit error 1), but it's impossible to say what exactly it is, can you post the contents of /var/lib/dpkg/info/nokiainternetmodem.postrm

[jbang]

You don't need the deb package to remove (and you don't need to change to the directory it was installed), once a deb package is installed, dpkg can remove it like any other package.

That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure. Thank you for clearing that up.

The error you reported suggests there is a problem with the post-removal script of the package (exit error 1), but it's impossible to say what exactly it is, can you post the contents of /var/lib/dpkg/info/nokiainternetmodem.postrm

No problem. This is the contents of /var/lib/dpkg/info/nokiainternetmodem.postrm:

#!/bin/sh

set -e
# Automatically added by dh_installmenu
if [ -x "`which update-menus 2>/dev/null`" ]; then update-menus ; fi
# End automatically added section
# Automatically added by dh_desktop
if [ "$1" = "remove" ] && which update-desktop-database >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
        update-desktop-database -q
fi
# End automatically added section
# Automatically added by dh_iconcache
[ -d /usr/share/icons/hicolor ] && touch -m /usr/share/icons/hicolor || true
if [ "$1" = "remove" ] && \
   [ -x "`which gtk-update-icon-cache 2>/dev/null`" ] && \
   [ -f /etc/gtk-2.0/gdk-pixbuf.loaders ]; then
        if [ "`find /usr/share/icons/hicolor -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type d | wc -l`" -gt 0 ] && \
           [ "`find /usr/share/icons/hicolor -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type f -name index.theme | wc -l`" -eq 1 ]; then
                # we shouldn't bomb out, if gtk-update-icon-cache failes, 
                # it's not important enough
                gtk-update-icon-cache -q /usr/share/icons/hicolor || true;
        else
                # if the icon theme directory has no subdirs, we can remove the cache
                rm -f /usr/share/icons/hicolor/icon-theme.cache || true;
        fi
fi
# End automatically added section

# wvdial Admin SUDO
filesudoers='/etc/sudoers'
filesudoerstmp='/tmp/sudo.tmp'

chmod 0640 $filesudoers
sed -e "s/.*wvdial.*//" $filesudoers > $filesudoerstmp
cp $filesudoerstmp $filesudoers
sed -e "s/.*\/bin\/kill.*//" $filesudoers > $filesudoerstmp
cp $filesudoerstmp $filesudoers
chmod 0440 $filesudoers
rm $filesudoerstmp

if [ -e /sbin/udevcontrol ]; then 
udevcontrol reload_rules
else
/etc/init.d/udev restart
fi
if [ -e /etc/PolicyKit/PolicyKit.conf ]; then 
sed -i "s/<match action=\"org.freedesktop.network-manager-settings.system.modify\"><return result=\"yes\"\/><\/match><\/config>/<\/config>/" /etc/PolicyKit/PolicyKit.conf
fi

My bash knowledge isn't exactly expert-level, but here's a couple of results of quick checks I did, based on my understanding of the code:

1. /bin/sh is a symlink to /bin/dash.
2. Both update-menus and update-desktop-database exist in /usr/bin/.
3. /usr/share/icons/hicolor is a directory.
4. gtk-update-icon-cache exist in /usr/bin/.
5. There's 25 directories in /usr/share/icons/hicolor as checked by find /usr/share/icons/hicolor -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type d | wc -l.
6. /usr/share/icons/hicolor exist as checked by [ "`find /usr/share/icons/hicolor -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type f -name index.theme | wc -l`" -eq 1 ].
7. The output from sed -e "s/.*wvdial.*//" $filesudoers and sed -e "s/.*\/bin\/kill.*//" $filesudoers is (not surprisingly) exactly the same as the contents of the $filesudoers file.
8. /etc/init.d/udev restart runs fine.
9. /etc/PolicyKit/PolicyKit.conf doesn't exist

Did I miss anything I need to check?

-- Jens

[jbang]

I have tried running the commands in the postrm file manually, but I got no error message.

Here is what I did:

1. Started /bin/sh, using sudo: sudo /bin/sh
2. Ignored set -e, since it would only mean exiting /bin/sh if an error occurred.
3. Ran the first if, by copy/pasting the line into the console
4. Ran the second if, by copy/pasting the full if-command into the console
5. Ran the third if, by copy/pasting the full if-command into the console
6. Ran the wvdial group by substituting the value of the variables into each line and then running that line.
7. Ran the last 2 if-commands one at a time by copy/pasting each full if into the console.

Why doesn't that give me an error message, when it fails when run by the purging of the package?

-- Jens

[kubicle]

try running the whole script to see if you get any error output:
1. Open a root shell sudo -i
2. run the script /var/lib/dpkg/info/nokiainternetmodem.postrm
3. check possible errors
4. exit root shell exit

[jbang]

try running the whole script to see if you get any error output:
1. Open a root shell sudo -i
2. run the script /var/lib/dpkg/info/nokiainternetmodem.postrm
3. check possible errors
4. exit root shell exit

I tried that, and this is what I got:

jbang@amanda:~$ sudo -i
[sudo] password for jbang: 
root@amanda:~# /var/lib/dpkg/info/nokiainternetmodem.postrm
root@amanda:~# exit
logout
jbang@amanda:~$

But when I run sudo apt-get purge nokiainternetmodem I still get this:

Removing nokiainternetmodem (1.3.264.3) ...
dpkg: error processing package nokiainternetmodem (--remove):
 subprocess installed post-removal script returned error exit status 1
Processing triggers for menu (2.1.46ubuntu1) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 nokiainternetmodem
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

-- Jens

[claydoh]

have you tried simply moving/deleting the postrm file, then trying to uninstall the package again?

[kubicle]

have you tried simply moving/deleting the postrm file, then trying to uninstall the package again?

This would be the next step to try.

You normally don't want to do this as the postrm script may perform some important actions during package removal, but since you have already run it manually it shouldn't be a problem any more.

EDIT: had another look at the script, and you may want to test to run it (as root) with:
/var/lib/dpkg/info/nokiainternetmodem.postrm remove

(Since there are couple of "$1" argument tests in the script)

[jbang]

EDIT: had another look at the script, and you may want to test to run it (as root) with:
/var/lib/dpkg/info/nokiainternetmodem.postrm remove

(Since there are couple of "$1" argument tests in the script)

Good point. I should have thought of that myself. :-)

I tried it, but I didn't get an error message:

jbang@amanda:~$ sudo -i
[sudo] password for jbang: 
root@amanda:~# /var/lib/dpkg/info/nokiainternetmodem.postrm remove
root@amanda:~# exit
logout
jbang@amanda:~$

have you tried simply moving/deleting the postrm file, then trying to uninstall the package again?

This would be the next step to try.

You normally don't want to do this as the postrm script may perform some important actions during package removal, but since you have already run it manually it shouldn't be a problem any more.

I didn't delete the file, I only emptied it,and then I tried removing the package. It seemed to go fine:

jbang@amanda:~$ cat /var/lib/dpkg/info/nokiainternetmodem.postrm 
#!/bin/sh

jbang@amanda:~$ sudo apt-get purge nokiainternetmodem
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  [[SNIP]]
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED
  nokiainternetmodem
0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 1 to remove and 27 not to upgrade.
1 not fully installed or removed.                                                                                                                                                                                  
After this operation, 34.5 MB disk space will be freed.                                                                                                                                                            
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y                                                                                                                                                                                   
(Reading database ... 538386 files and directories currently installed.)                                                                                                                                           
Removing nokiainternetmodem (1.3.264.3) ...                                                                                                                                                                        
jbang@amanda:~$

Thank you all so much for your help. :-)

Now I will try to install the security updates that have been waiting...

-- Jens