[ubuntu-uk] Problem installing v8.04 from an imperfect 6.06 setup. Help requested

Sat Nov 15 18:47:24 GMT 2008

Replying to :  Matthew Macdonald-Wallace
(Greetings from Ardnamurchan Peninsula, Scottish Highlands)

Dear Matthew,
Thank you for your prompt reply to my plea for help.

I've done:
   sudo aptitude update
   sudo aptitude upgrade
as you suggested.

Something called   postgresql-8.1  seems to prevent
successful completion   --as you will better understand
than I, (an ordinary user) from some lines of the terminal
upgrade process pasted further below.

Btw, for a long time now, this error has prevented successful
completion of regular upgrades (orange icon on top bar)
using Add-Remove/Synaptic, which gives this error:-
  E: /var/cache/apt/archives/postgresql-8.1_8.1.13-0ub
     untu0.6.06_i386.deb: subprocess new pre-removal
     script returned error exit status 1

But  /my work is important to me/  (more so than
having the very latest version) so I have soldiered
on with it, in the state it is.

But it's high time I got away from this 6.06 setup, back
to a fresh 8.04 such as I had on the now defunct hard drive.

Does  postgresql  /need/ to be fixed before I can go further ?
CAN  it be mended ?
If so how ?
(There are now 331 upgrades waiting at the orange icon)

BUT if I can install the fresh 8.04 without them, then
there seems little point in bothering with that (?).

/I'm not sure how to get the install process started/.
It is not immediately obvious to me which prog on the CD
IS the "installer".

If the install can be made start, I hope it will offer an
opportunity to 'tell it' /where/ to install.

I don't want it to overwrite and obliterate my one surviving
unbuntu (the v6.06 I'm using).

As far as I can tell, the CD image is not a "live disc".
I downloaded it from:-
http://releases.ubuntu.com/hardy/ubuntu-8.04.1-desktop-i386.iso
so it seems I can't operate 'from' that as a 'live CD'.

I notice that it has some .exe files (not a Linux filetype is it?)
Could this CD be a version that assumes MS Windows or DOS is present?
I do not have Windows at all now.

Btw, Nautilus is unable to 'open' either my new hard drive
(which came formatted MS NTFS)  or other partitions on
the current drive, and gives the message:-
    error: device /dev/hde4 is not removable
    error: could not execute pmount

Apologies for being verbose (in spite of trying to make it briefer).

In hope that you can help,

regards,
Louis

PS   An afterthought:
For my relatively simple needs (mostly writing plain text),
I had wondered whether 'Xubuntu' would serve -for a while at least.
Any comments?     In particular:-
would it be any easier to install, given the present
dire state of my existing 6.06 setup?

COPY-PASTED FROM THE TERMINAL:
  .......
 < preamble snipped (but I have it saved all this as a textfile), LG. >
  .......
Get:20 http://archive.ubuntu.com dapper-updates/main mozilla-thunderbird 
1.5.0.1 3+1.5.0.15~prepatch080614g-0ubuntu0.6.06.1 [10.4MB]
Get:21 http://archive.ubuntu.com dapper-updates/main netpbm 
2:10.0-10ubuntu1.1 [1159kB]
Get:22 http://archive.ubuntu.com dapper-updates/main tk8.3-dev 
8.3.5-4ubuntu1.2 [648kB]
Get:23 http://archive.ubuntu.com dapper-updates/main tk8.3 
8.3.5-4ubuntu1.2 [2733kB]
Get:24 http://archive.ubuntu.com dapper-updates/main tk8.4 
8.4.12-0ubuntu1.2 [957kB]
Get:25 http://archive.ubuntu.com dapper-updates/main tk8.4-doc 
8.4.12-0ubuntu1.2 [788kB]
Get:26 http://archive.ubuntu.com dapper-updates/main tk8.0 
8.0.5-11ubuntu0.1 [1113kB]
Fetched 35.4MB in 1m6s (535kB/s)
Reading changelogs... Done
Extract templates from packages: 100%
Preconfiguring packages ...
(Reading database ... 268907 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace locales 2.3.18.15 (using 
.../locales_2.3.18.16_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement locales ...
Preparing to replace postgresql-8.1 8.1.9-0ubuntu0.6.06 (using 
.../postgresql-8.1_8.1.13-0ubuntu0.6.06_i386.deb) ...
* Stopping PostgreSQL 8.1 database server  * Error: specified cluster 
does not exist

[fail]
invoke-rc.d: initscript postgresql-8.1, action "stop" failed.
dpkg: warning - old pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
* Stopping PostgreSQL 8.1 database server  * Error: specified cluster 
does not exist

[fail]
invoke-rc.d: initscript postgresql-8.1, action "stop" failed.
dpkg: error processing 
/var/cache/apt/archives/postgresql-8.1_8.1.13-0ubuntu0.6.06_i386.deb 
(--unpack):
subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
* Starting PostgreSQL 8.1 database server  * Error: specified cluster 
does not exist

[fail]
invoke-rc.d: initscript postgresql-8.1, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Preparing to replace bsdutils 1:2.12r-4ubuntu6 (using 
.../bsdutils_1%3a2.12r-4ubuntu6.1_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement bsdutils ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/postgresql-8.1_8.1.13-0ubuntu0.6.06_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
A package failed to install.  Trying to recover:
Setting up bsdutils (2.12r-4ubuntu6.1) ...

Setting up locales (2.3.18.16) ...
Generating locales...
 af_ZA.UTF-8... up-to-date

  ....... <snipped> ......

 zh_SG.UTF-8... up-to-date
 zh_TW.UTF-8... up-to-date
Generation complete.
Current default timezone: 'Europe/London'.
Local time is now:      Sat Nov 15 15:17:36 GMT 2008.
Universal Time is now:  Sat Nov 15 15:17:36 UTC 2008.
Run 'tzconfig' if you wish to change it.

dpkg: error processing postgresql-8.1 (--configure):
Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should
reinstall it before attempting configuration.
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of postgresql-contrib-8.1:
postgresql-contrib-8.1 depends on postgresql-8.1; however:
 Package postgresql-8.1 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing postgresql-contrib-8.1 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of postgresql-pltcl-8.1:
postgresql-pltcl-8.1 depends on postgresql-8.1; however:
 Package postgresql-8.1 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing postgresql-pltcl-8.1 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of postgresql-plpython-8.1:
postgresql-plpython-8.1 depends on postgresql-8.1; however:
 Package postgresql-8.1 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing postgresql-plpython-8.1 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of postgresql-plperl-8.1:
postgresql-plperl-8.1 depends on postgresql-8.1; however:
 Package postgresql-8.1 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing postgresql-plperl-8.1 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of postgresql-8.1-plr:
postgresql-8.1-plr depends on postgresql-8.1; however:
 Package postgresql-8.1 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing postgresql-8.1-plr (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
postgresql-8.1
postgresql-contrib-8.1
postgresql-pltcl-8.1
postgresql-plpython-8.1
postgresql-plperl-8.1
postgresql-8.1-plr
louis at Edison:~$

Matthew Macdonald-Wallace wrote:
> Quoting Louis Gidney <LouGid39 at cromer.demon.co.uk>:
>> Hello,
>>
>> After losing my Ubuntu 8.04 setup owing one of
>> my two hard drives failing, I have just started
>> the process of installing a freshly downloaded
>> v8.04 which I hope to put in an empty partition
>> (already formatted ext3) on my remaining 80GB drive.
>>
>> I'm pretty confident that the CD is sound,
>>
>> I'm doing this from a rather sick v.6.06 Dapper,
>> and I get the following following message at once:
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------
>> The following problems were found on your system:
>> ------------------------------------------------
>> E: Sub-process gpgv returned an error code (2)
>> W: Signature verification failed
>>    for:/media/cdrecorder/dists/hardy/Release.gpg
>> ------------------------------------------------
>>
>> I'm pretty confident the CD is sound,
>>
>> Is this message most likely to be caused by a
>> fault on the CD  ---or by my faulty 6.06 setup?
>>
>> I don't know what "Signature" means, here,
>>
>> ( I have no disc "W:" )
>
> Hi,
>
> The "W:" is the error message, not a "W" drive - Linux doesn't assign  
> drives letters like windows does.
>
> I'd suggest running the following commands from a terminal:
>
> sudo aptitude update
> sudo aptitude upgrade
>
> then re-run the CD installer.
>
> HTH,
>
> M.
>
>