Re: Synaptic error message -- how to respond

[Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net>]

On 04/24/2019 03:42 PM, Thomas D Dial wrote:
> On Wed, 2019-04-24 at 10:42 -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> > I have repeatedly received the following error message:
> > > E: galternatives: package is in a very bad inconsistent state;
> > > you should  reinstall it before attempting configuration
> >
> > I don't recall what triggered it last week. Today I wanted to install
> > "apt-rdepends" which displayed the above error message. I closed the
> > message window. The box next to apt-rdepends was colored green
> > indicating it had been successfully installed. I did a test run of it
> > and got reasonably looking output.
> >
> > I attempt to reinstall "galternatives" and receive:
> > > E: /var/cache/apt/archives/galternatives_0.13.5+nmu4+deb9u1_all.deb:
> > > subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
> > > galternatives
> >
> > What should I do next?
>
> Look carefully at everything from the
>
> "apt install --reinstall galternatives"
>
> command to the end of the output from it. It shouldn't be all that long
> but is likely to have diagnostic information you can use to identify and
> correct the problem. If that doesn't clarify it enough, post the output,
>   all of it. Many of us have seen install failures from time to time and
> given enough output might have suggestions. Exit code from a script
> bundled in the .deb file is too generic to be useful by itself.
>
> Regards,
> Tom Dial

Where the error is is fairly clear. But what to do about is not.
My interpretation is there a problem with the repository.

Not being sure how short the output would be I saved the output to a file.

My terminal session:
> richard@fromdell:~$ su
> Password: 
> root@fromdell:/home/richard# apt install --reinstall galternatives > diagnostic
>
> WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.
>
> E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
> root@fromdell:/home/richard#

The contents of file "diagnostic" is:
> Reading package lists...
> Building dependency tree...
> Reading state information...
> 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 251 not upgraded.
> 3 not fully installed or removed.
> Need to get 0 B/148 kB of archives.
> After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
> (Reading database ... 
(Reading database ... 5%
(Reading database ... 10%

[snip repetitive info]
(Reading database ... 90%
(Reading database ... 95%
(Reading database ... 100%
(Reading database ... 176998 files and directories currently installed.)

> Preparing to unpack .../galternatives_0.13.5+nmu4+deb9u1_all.deb ...

>   File "/usr/bin/pyclean", line 63

>     except (IOError, OSError), e:

>                              ^

> SyntaxError: invalid syntax

> dpkg: warning: subprocess old pre-removal script returned error exit status 1

> dpkg: trying script from the new package instead ...

>   File "/usr/bin/pyclean", line 63

>     except (IOError, OSError), e:

>                              ^

> SyntaxError: invalid syntax

> dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/galternatives_0.13.5+nmu4+deb9u1_all.deb (--unpack):

>  subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 1

> Traceback (most recent call last):

>   File "/usr/bin/pycompile", line 35, in <module>

>     from debpython.version import SUPPORTED, debsorted, vrepr, \

>   File "/usr/share/python/debpython/version.py", line 24, in <module>

>     from ConfigParser import SafeConfigParser

> ImportError: No module named 'ConfigParser'

> dpkg: error while cleaning up:

>  subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1

> Errors were encountered while processing:

>  /var/cache/apt/archives/galternatives_0.13.5+nmu4+deb9u1_all.deb


I see the error message but do not know what to do.
Thanks for pointers.