Strange problem with apt

[Steve Flynn]

On 06/10/06, Carlos Picazzo <ojaiguy at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I just tried installing the gpsd package but it apparently had some issues
> installing. Now any time I try using apt or dpkg, I get:
>
> "fgets gave an empty string from diversions [i]"
>
> What's that all about? My system is in a completely hosed state right now
> as I can't install or uninstall that package using apt or dpkg.
>
> Does anyone know what might have happened? I've been using Debian and
> Ubuntu for a few years now and have never seen that error. Google doesn't
> come up with much either so I'm not sure what my options are
>
> Thanks,
>
> Carlos
>
> PS: Here's the output of 'apt-get install -f':
>
> ---
> # apt-get install -f
> Reading package lists... Done
> Building dependency tree... Done
> The following extra packages will be installed:
> gpsd
> Suggested packages:
> hotplug
> Recommended packages:
> gpsd-clients
> The following packages will be upgraded:
> gpsd
> 1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 4 not upgraded.
> 1 not fully installed or removed.
> Need to get 0B/207kB of archives.
> After unpacking 618kB of additional disk space will be used.
> Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
> Preconfiguring packages ...
> dpkg: fgets gave an empty string from diversions [i]
> E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)
>

If would seem that gpsd has a diversion file, but it's empty... I don't know
if this will help you but,

The  dpkg-divert command



 File * diversions* are a way of forcing   dpkg not to install a file into
its default location, but to a *diverted* location. Diversions can be used
through the Debian package scripts to move a file away when it causes a
conflict. System administrators can also use a diversion to override a
package's configuration file, or whenever some files (which aren't marked as
conffiles) need to be preserved by  dpkg, when installing a newer version of
a package which contains those files.



     # dpkg-divert [--add]  filename # add "diversion"

      # dpkg-divert --remove filename # remove "diversion"

  if the  dpkg command is broken follow this



 A broken   dpkg may make it impossible to install any .deb files. A
procedure like the following will help you recover from this situation. (In
the first line, you can replace "links" with your favorite browser command.)




     $ links http://http.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/dpkg/

        ... download the good dpkg_version_arch.deb

      $ su

      password: *****

      # ar x dpkg_version_arch.deb

      # mv data.tar.gz /data.tar.gz

      # cd /

      # tar xzfv data.tar.gz

  For i386, http://packages.debian.org/dpkg may also be used as the URL.

-- 
Steve
Despair - It's always darkest just before it goes pitch black...
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/attachments/20061006/e1455307/attachment.html>