[TriLUG] Corrupted package install database

[Carl Crider]

Is your /home on a separate partition? If so, you can re-install from
scratch and keep that in place.

How about enabling the third-party repositories, updating (sudo apt-get
update) and attempting to
reinstall packages after that?

I've used those dpkg commands in the past to clear up similar issues, but
moved to a different
partitioning scheme in order to do fresh installs. If you find a fix, I'd
like to read about it.



On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 8:12 PM, Glenn Starling <multifacetedguy at gmail.com>wrote:

> I sent this out this afternoon and did not receive it back from the mail
> list, so I hope you don't receive it twice.
>
> When updating to Kubuntu 8.10, the package database became corrupted and
> the
> install *almost* finished, but most things worked on reboot.  Neither
> Synaptic nor Adept were installed.  KPackageKit was installed, but says
> "some packages" are corrupted and suggests running Synaptic or Adept.
> Neither would install or be removed as they were "half-installed,"  even if
> I use the force option.  These are dependencies of something and the
> package
> installer always aborts before installing anything until these dependencies
> are resolved.  It always suggests reinstalling this package before removing
> or use the "sudo apt-get -f install" command without specifying any package
> to try to automatically fix the problems.  Using apt-get, dpkg, and
> aptitude
> from the command line show the problem is with the adobe-flashplugin,
> flashplugin-installer and flashplugin-nonfree.
>
> Google provided one useful link that suggested entering "the following
> commands under a console & now you should be able to install any software
> packages normally under Ubuntu 9.10." (From
>
> http://linux.gauravlive.com/ubuntu/bug-fix-unable-to-install-software-packages-under-ubuntu-9-10/
> )
>  It didn't work, but here are the commands.
>
> sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/info/adobe-
> flashplugin.prerm
>
> sudo dpkg-reconfigure adobe-flashplugin –force
>
> sudo dpkg –purge –force-all adobe-flashplugin
>
> sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree
>
> It didn't work.  So, what do I do next?  Is there a strategy that works to
> resolve dependency/version problems such as this?  My previous experience
> with similar problems was always somewhat "hit and miss" but I quickly
> found
> the problem.  This time I seem to be going around in circles.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Glenn Starling
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