Bug#18575: Alpha version of dpkg segv faults

[Ian Jackson <ian@davenant.greenend.org.uk>]

You report:
> The alpha version of dpkg segv faults when trying to chown of non-existent
> files during the install process.  It occurred when I tried installing
> xlib6g_3.3.1-2.1 (libICE.so.60 & libXext.so.6.1 didn't exist) and
> xbase_3.3.1-2.1 (xinitrc didn't exist).

Were you using i18n ?  If so then I can explain this as a combination
of a known problem with chown/lchown (see #18147 et al) plus the known
i18n segfault-on-error-message.

If not then I can't explain the segfault.

Your bug is merged with 18147 et al.  If you weren't using i18n please
get back to me - particularly if the problem is reproduceable in
recent dpkgs.

Thanks,
Ian.