"dpkg was interrupted" - how to fix it

[J]

On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 21:35, Thomas Blasejewicz <thomas at s7.dion.ne.jp> wrote:

> I am sorry, I am not a computer wizard. So, when I entered Alt+F2 (I
> read about that) I was NOT asked for usename or PW or anything and just
> entered that command.

Yeah... my mistake.  Sorry...  Alt+F2 opens the "Run Dialog"  I was
thinking Ctrl+Alt+F?? that opens various terminals.  IN this case,
Ctrl+Alt+F2 changes you over to one of the consoles (command line
interfaces), same thing you get when you you open a terminal as I
asked about.

I have a feeling that opening the Run Dialog won't work because
there's no terminal for feedback (e.g. prompting for the password when
you run a command with sudo)...

> Just now, I tried to use the GUI you suggested.
> There is my username followed by " : ~$ " after which I entered the said
> command.
> I then get a very long list of more stuff I do not understand, starting
> with "dpkg: action requires specification of options" (or something like
> that. My system is the Japanese localized version, so I don't know
> exactly, what the phrase here would be in English)

Yeah, your command is wrong.  I tried it myself... it should be this, I believe:

sudo dpkg --configure -a

most system commands have what are called man pages (Manual Pages)
which can be accessed from a terminal using the command "man
<program/command name>"

Not all man pages are good, mind you, some, maybe even most, are not
so well written ;-) but they can be informative and useful.  Here is a
bit from the dpkg man page about --configure:

--configure package...|-a|--pending
              Reconfigure an unpacked package. If -a  or  --pending  is  given
              instead  of  package, all unpacked but unconfigured packages are
              configured.

              Configuring consists of the following steps:

              1. Unpack the configuration files, and at the same time back  up
              the  old  configuration  files,  so that they can be restored if
              something goes wrong.

              2. Run postinst script, if provided by the package.

I did a little poking around, and you can try this command as well,
also from inside the terminal:

sudo apt-get -f install

which tells the program apt-get to fix broken things...

So you're running Japanese localization?  I have a good friend who
does that for his wife as well.  If you'd like, I can try to get you
in contact off list with him as he has a lot of experience running
various Linuxes with the Japanese localization.

Cheers,

Jeff

-- 

Pablo Picasso  - "Computers are useless. They can only give you
answers." - http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/p/pablo_picasso.html