Re: Bug#533579: base-passwd install fails with fatal "syntax error: unknown user `mpd'"
reassign 533579 base-installer
thanks
On Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 01:11:22PM -0400, Scott Ingram wrote:
> During i386 install from debian-501-i386-netinst.iso, a Debootstrap
> warning appears after trying to run "chroot /target dpkg --force-depends
> --install var/cache/apt/archives/base-passwd_3.5.20_i386.deb
> var/cache/apt/archives/base-files_5lenny2_i386.deb" during base package
> installation.
>
> Attempting to run the command manually in a shell in the
> /target/var/cache/apt/archives directory, "chroot /target dpkg
> --force-depends --install base-passwd_3.5.20_i386.deb" results in this
> error message:
>
> dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error, aborting:
> syntax error: unknown user `mpd' in statoverride file
>
> The installation is unable to proceed any further, and has to be
> aborted.
>
> There are existing /home, /usr, /tmp and /var directories on the target
> machine from a previous install. The / directory has been reformatted.
I don't think this can be base-passwd's fault - dpkg isn't getting far
enough to run any code from base-passwd here.
The installer should have warned you about the fact that installing over
an unclean (unformatted) target is likely to break, and this is one of
the ways in which it will break. Maybe it needs to warn harder, or
attempt to clear out dpkg's configuration or something.
Ubuntu has a scheme involving clearing a reasonable selection of
"system" directories if you try to install over an unformatted
filesystem, in order to make it easier for people to reinstall while
keeping /home and /srv and so on. It's had some teething troubles, but
it's reasonably mature now and might be worth considering.
--
Colin Watson [cjwatson@debian.org]
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