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You touched one of my pet peeves (was Re: dpkg: syntax error)



On 03/27/2011 08:35 PM, Scott Ferguson wrote:
An apt-get update for Squeeze gives the following error message:-

dpkg: syntax error in file triggers file `/var/lib/dpkg/triggers//File'
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)

The machine is a fairly standard KDE Squeeze i386 - the update is (I
believe) the last point release (92 upgraded packages), and
/var/lib/dpkg/triggers/File does exist, and has no obvious syntax errors
(or blank spaces.

Is the double backslashes a clue?


That's a double *slash*. The backslash (on my US "small <Enter>" kb) is under the pipe.

We know this because typewriter keyboards only had one such key and so Lower Left To Upper Right became the "slash" key. When IBM added another key, that new key became the backslash.

http://www.macwebguru.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/olympiaportabletypewritekeyboard.jpg

http://eprints.utas.edu.au/3383/2/op_typewriter_keyboard_ep.jpg

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_-1QGhsS3OZ0/R4FQccv5-WI/AAAAAAAAAPE/S6za2eZBx4c/beige+ibm+selectric+typewriter.JPG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Keyboard_on_a_typewriter.jpg



--
"Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure
the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally
corrupt."
Samuel Adams, essay in The Public Advertiser, 1749


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