Bug#51139: apt: upgrade fails /tmp/filezTSRv5: /usr/share/debconf/confmodule: No such file or directory

[John K.Stevenson <jstevens@borg.phx.mcd.mot.com>]

Package: apt
Version: 0.3.13
Severity: important


Configuring packages ...
/tmp/filezTSRv5: /usr/share/debconf/confmodule: No such file or directory
E: Sub-process dpkg-preconfig --apt returned an error code (1)
E: Failure running script dpkg-preconfig --apt

-- System Information
Debian Release: potato
Kernel Version: Linux thix 2.2.12 #4 SMP Wed Oct 13 13:30:21 MST 1999 i586 unknown

Versions of the packages apt depends on:
ii  libc6           2.1.2-5        GNU C Library: Shared libraries and timezone
ii  libstdc++2.10   2.95.2-0pre2   The GNU stdc++ library