apt broken

[Derek Broughton]

Chris Lemire wrote:

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> It has been working for about a year. Recently I install mdadm, and
> apt gave me lots of errors. I attempted to remove the package with
> apt, and it would not remove but instead gave me the same error
> messages again. Then I used dpkg -P mdadm and the package did get
> removed. However, I can't use apt to remove or add anything any more.
...
> E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'dpkg --configure -a'
...
> chris at ubuntu:~/Desktop/mutt-1.4.2.3$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
... 
> update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.23.1custom1
> Cannot find /lib/modules/2.6.23.1custom1
> update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-2.6.23.1custom1
> dpkg: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1

OK, not a serious problem.  First, I'd make sure that the custom initrd.img
doesn't exist. I think update-initramfs is just working with whatever
images it finds in /boot.  Then rerun "dpkg --configure -a".  If that
doesn't work just try to make that directory - unfortunately, my experience
with this sort of error is that it tends to immediately run into the same
problem on another file :-)  So,  then you get a little more drastic. 
Remove the file /var/lib/dpkg/info/initramfs-tools.postinst
(initramfs-tools is the package containing update-initramfs).

Finally, run dpkg again, then "sudo aptitude reinstall initramfs-tools" just
to make sure that the "postinst" is now working.
-- 
derek