Re: dpkg & dselect refuse to delete or install a package

[cjw44@cam.ac.uk (Colin Watson)]

jpb@creol.ucf.edu (Joe Block) wrote:
>A friend of mine is having problems with a package (xwhois) that refuses
>to be either upgraded or removed.  That would be no big deal, but it is
>also causing dselect & apt to crap out when trying to upgrade.

[...]

>$ sudo dpkg --purge xwhois
>Password:
>dpkg: error processing xwhois (--purge):
> Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should
> reinstall it before attempting a removal.
>Errors were encountered while processing:
> xwhois                                     
>$
>
>When I try to install it, (and yes I nuked
>/var/cache/apt/archives/xwhois_0.2.3-1_i386.deb first) with apt-get
>install xwhois, I get the following error message:
>
>$ sudo apt-get install xwhois
>Reading Package Lists... Done
>Building Dependency Tree... Done
>Sorry, xwhois is already the newest version

I've always had good luck using things like:

  apt-get --reinstall install xwhois

-- 
Colin Watson                                           [cjw44@cam.ac.uk]