re: dpkg failures on perl_5.6.1-2

[Adam Logghe <"" "adam\""@.devtty.net (none)>]

While to get back into the upgrade treadmill I tried the following.....

ganthet:~# dpkg --purge --force-depends --force-remove-essential 
perl         
dpkg: perl: dependency problems, but removing anyway as you request:
defoma depends on perl | perl5; however:
 Package perl is to be removed.
 Package perl5 is not installed.
 Package perl which provides perl5 is to be removed.
autoconf depends on perl | perl5; however:
 Package perl is to be removed.
 Package perl5 is not installed.
 Package perl which provides perl5 is to be removed.
perl-5.005 depends on perl (>= 5.6.0-20).
defoma depends on perl | perl5; however:
 Package perl is to be removed.
 Package perl5 is not installed.
 Package perl which provides perl5 is to be removed.
autoconf depends on perl | perl5; however:
 Package perl is to be removed.
 Package perl5 is not installed.
 Package perl which provides perl5 is to be removed.
xscreensaver depends on perl5; however:
 Package perl5 is not installed.
 Package perl which provides perl5 is to be removed.
dpkg-dev depends on perl5; however:
 Package perl5 is not installed.
 Package perl which provides perl5 is to be removed.
gmc depends on perl5; however:
 Package perl5 is not installed.
 Package perl which provides perl5 is to be removed.
(Reading database ... 45134 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing perl ...
dpkg: error processing perl (--purge):
unable to delete control info file `/var/lib/dpkg/info/perl.postinst': 
Is a directory
Errors were encountered while processing:
perl

On seeing this I moved the existing directory and ran an upgrade life is 
at least livable again.....

Adam
adam in the domain devtty.net