[Bug 819957] Re: purging /var/cache breaks debconf

[Ben Howard]

Example of a failed installation:


ubuntu at ip-10-112-41-194:~$ sudo apt-get install bzr
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  bzrtools python-bzrlib
Suggested packages:
  bzr-doc bzr-gtk bzr-svn python-bzrlib.tests graphviz librsvg2-bin python-kerberos python-bzrlib-dbg xdg-utils
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  bzr bzrtools python-bzrlib
0 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 1,981 kB of archives.
After this operation, 10.3 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Get:1 http://us-east-1.ec2.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric/main python-bzrlib i386 2.4.0~beta5-2ubuntu1 [1,887 kB]
Get:2 http://us-east-1.ec2.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric/main bzr all 2.4.0~beta5-2ubuntu1 [35.2 kB]
Get:3 http://us-east-1.ec2.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric/main bzrtools all 2.4.0~bzr767-2ubuntu1 [58.6 kB]
Fetched 1,981 kB in 0s (2,316 kB/s)
debconf: DbDriver "config": could not open /var/cache/debconf/config.dat
Selecting previously deselected package python-bzrlib.
(Reading database ... 27688 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking python-bzrlib (from .../python-bzrlib_2.4.0~beta5-2ubuntu1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package bzr.
Unpacking bzr (from .../bzr_2.4.0~beta5-2ubuntu1_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package bzrtools.
Unpacking bzrtools (from .../bzrtools_2.4.0~bzr767-2ubuntu1_all.deb) ...
Processing triggers for python-central ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
debconf: DbDriver "config": could not open /var/cache/debconf/config.dat
dpkg: error processing man-db (--unpack):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 man-db
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/819957

Title:
  purging /var/cache breaks debconf

Status in “debconf” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  If user deletes /var/cache/*, while leaving /var/cache, then debconf
  is broken. Specifically, debconf looks for /var/cache/debconf and does
  not create the missing directory, and after the directory is creating,
  software fails to install.

  Repo Steps:
  1. rm /var/cache/*
  2. Attempt to install any package

  Why this is a bug? Per the LSB, (
  http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#VARCACHE), applications
  should recover from missing files. A user who removes /var/cache/*
  will experience problems with the installation of software.

  root at domU-12-31-39-0B-60-05:/home/ubuntu# lsb_release -d
  Description:    Ubuntu oneiric (development branch)

  root at domU-12-31-39-0B-60-05:/home/ubuntu# apt-cache policy debconf
  debconf:
    Installed: 1.5.40ubuntu1
    Candidate: 1.5.40ubuntu1
    Version table:
   *** 1.5.40ubuntu1 0
          500 http://us-east-1.ec2.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric/main i386 Packages
          100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
  root at domU-12-31-39-0B-60-05:/home/ubuntu# 

  --- 
  Attempt to install the Sun JDK:

  sun-dlj-v1-1 license could not be presented
  try 'dpkg-reconfigure debconf' to select a frontend other than noninteractive

  dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/sun-java6-jre_6.26-1oneiric1_all.deb (--unpack):
   subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 2
  Unpacking sun-java6-bin (from .../sun-java6-bin_6.26-1oneiric1_i386.deb) ...

  sun-dlj-v1-1 license could not be presented
  try 'dpkg-reconfigure debconf' to select a frontend other than noninteractive

  dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/sun-java6-bin_6.26-1oneiric1_i386.deb (--unpack):
   subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 2
  Unpacking sun-java6-jdk (from .../sun-java6-jdk_6.26-1oneiric1_i386.deb) ...

  sun-dlj-v1-1 license could not be presented
  try 'dpkg-reconfigure debconf' to select a frontend other than noninteractive

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
  Package: debconf 1.5.40ubuntu1
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-7.9-virtual 3.0.0
  Uname: Linux 3.0.0-7-virtual i686
  Architecture: i386
  Date: Tue Aug  2 18:16:15 2011
  Ec2AMI: ami-d319dfba
  Ec2AMIManifest: (unknown)
  Ec2AvailabilityZone: us-east-1c
  Ec2InstanceType: t1.micro
  Ec2Kernel: aki-805ea7e9
  Ec2Ramdisk: unavailable
  PackageArchitecture: all
  ProcEnviron:
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: debconf
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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