Bug#65432: tetex-bin: kpsewhich cannot find file fmtutil.cnf

["Robert J. Chassell" <bob@rattlesnake.com>]

   /var/lib/texmf/web2c should be full of files from tetex-bin:

   Please try to reinstall tetex-bin. I suppose for some reason (disk
   full?) dpkg could not write these files during installation.

`apt-get install tetex-bin' does install them but the installation
fails as a whole.

Here is the sequence:

First, there is enough room in /var

    #  df /var
    Filesystem           1k-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
    /dev/hda3               482249    248271    209078  54% /var

The system appears OK:

     #  apt-get -f install
    Reading Package Lists... Done
    Building Dependency Tree... Done
    0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 4 not upgraded.

Here is the list of packages kept back:

     #  apt-get dist-upgrade
    Reading Package Lists... Done
    Building Dependency Tree... Done
    Calculating Upgrade... Done
    The following packages have been kept back
      communicator gedit gnumeric netscape 
    0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 4 not upgraded.


Initially, /var/lib/texmf/web2c is empty and non-existant:

    #  ls -F /var/lib/texmf/web2c
    ls: /var/lib/texmf/web2c: No such file or directory


Now we try to install tetex-bin, which fails:

     #  apt-get install tetex-bin
    Reading Package Lists... Done
    Building Dependency Tree... Done
    The following NEW packages will be installed:
      tetex-bin 
    0 packages upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 4 not upgraded.
    Need to get 0B/2656kB of archives. After unpacking 6040kB will be used.
    Selecting previously deselected package tetex-bin.
    (Reading database ... 87898 files and directories currently installed.)
    Unpacking tetex-bin (from .../tetex-bin_1.0.6-7_i386.deb) ...

     checking for old tex packages ... none.
    Setting up tetex-bin (1.0.6-7) ...
    mktexlsr: Done.
    Error: kpsewhich cannot find file fmtutil.cnf
    dpkg: error processing tetex-bin (--configure):
     subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
    Errors were encountered while processing:
     tetex-bin
    E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

However, /var/lib/texmf/web2c now has files in it:

    #  ls -F /var/lib/texmf/web2c
    amiga-pl.tcx  cp8bit.tcx    il2-t1.tcx  mktex.cnf@    mktexupd*     
    cp1250cs.tcx  etex.pool     kam-cs.tcx  mktex.opt     mp.pool
    cp1250pl.tcx  fmtutil.cnf@  kam-t1.tcx  mktexdir*     omega.pool
    cp1250t1.tcx  il1-t1.tcx    maz-pl.tcx  mktexdir.opt  pdfetex.pool
    cp852-cs.tcx  il2-cs.tcx    mf.pool     mktexnam*     pdftex.pool
    cp852-pl.tcx  il2-pl.tcx    mfw.base@   mktexnam.opt  tex.pool
                                                          texmf.cnf@

Clean up:

     #  apt-get remove tetex-bin
    Reading Package Lists... Done
    Building Dependency Tree... Done
    The following packages will be REMOVED:
      tetex-bin 
    0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 4 not upgraded.
    1 packages not fully installed or removed.
    Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 6040kB will be freed.
    Do you want to continue? [Y/n] 
    (Reading database ... 88201 files and directories currently installed.)
    Removing tetex-bin ...

and /var/lib/texmf/web2c  and its contents have been removed, too:

    #  ls -F /var/lib/texmf/web2c
    ls: /var/lib/texmf/web2c: No such file or directory

Otherwise, supposedly, all is well:

    #  apt-get -f install
    Reading Package Lists... Done
    Building Dependency Tree... Done
    0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 4 not upgraded.

A most frustrating situation!  As far as I can figure, I am doing
everything according to the documentation and there is something wrong
with the install process.

-- 
    Robert J. Chassell                  bob@rattlesnake.com
    Rattlesnake Enterprises             http://www.rattlesnake.com