Errors were encountered while processing: /var/cache/apt/archives/apport_2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4_all.deb

Question

I have the following issue:

Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/apport_2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Also I can't install / unistall / upgrade packages.

Tried:

sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Output:

Hit:1 http://repo.yandex.ru/yandex-disk/deb stable InRelease
Hit:2 http://ru.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease          
Get:3 http://ru.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease [102 kB]                     
Hit:4 http://ppa.launchpad.net/diesch/testing/ubuntu xenial InRelease                                      
Get:5 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease [102 kB]                                 
Hit:6 http://ppa.launchpad.net/noobslab/apps/ubuntu xenial InRelease                                                
Hit:7 http://ppa.launchpad.net/numix/ppa/ubuntu xenial InRelease                                                                                           
Get:8 http://ru.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports InRelease [102 kB]                                                                   
Hit:9 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ricotz/docky/ubuntu xenial InRelease                                                                                        
Hit:10 http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/sublime-text-3/ubuntu xenial InRelease                                                                         
Ign:11 http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/Horst3180/xUbuntu_16.04  InRelease                 
Hit:12 http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/Horst3180/xUbuntu_16.04  Release
Fetched 306 kB in 1s (288 kB/s)                    
Reading package lists... Done
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  linux-headers-4.4.0-51 linux-headers-4.4.0-51-generic linux-image-4.4.0-51-generic linux-image-extra-4.4.0-51-generic ubuntu-core-launcher
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages have been kept back:
  gnome-software gnome-software-common liboxideqt-qmlplugin liboxideqtcore0 liboxideqtquick0 oxideqt-codecs-extra ubuntu-software
The following packages will be upgraded:
  apport
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 7 not upgraded.
111 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 120 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 http://ru.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 apport all 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4 [120 kB]
Fetched 120 kB in 0s (606 kB/s) 
(Reading database ... 301001 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../apport_2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4_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/apport_2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4_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/apport_2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Tried:

sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get -f install

Output:

...
Errors were encountered while processing:
apport
apport-gtk


Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  linux-headers-4.4.0-51 linux-headers-4.4.0-51-generic linux-image-4.4.0-51-generic linux-image-extra-4.4.0-51-generic ubuntu-core-launcher
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following additional packages will be installed:
  apport
The following packages will be upgraded:
  apport
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 7 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/120 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
(Reading database ... 301001 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../apport_2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4_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/apport_2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4_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/apport_2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Tried:

sudo dpkg -i --force-overwrite /var/cache/apt/archives/apport_2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4_all.deb

Output:

(Reading database ... 301001 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../apport_2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4_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/apport_2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4_all.deb (--install):
 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/apport_2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4_all.deb

Tried:

sudo apt-get purge apport

Output:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  apport-symptoms python3-systemd
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  apport*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 7 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 791 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
dpkg: error processing package apport (--purge):
 package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should
 reinstall it before attempting a removal
Errors were encountered while processing:
 apport
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Tried:

sudo dpkg --remove --force-remove-reinstreq apport

Output:

dpkg: warning: overriding problem because --force enabled:
dpkg: warning: package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should
 reinstall it before attempting a removal
(Reading database ... 300994 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing apport (2.20.1-0ubuntu2.1) ...
  File "/usr/bin/pyclean", line 63
    except (IOError, OSError), e:
                             ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
dpkg: error processing package apport (--remove):
 subprocess installed 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:
 apport

I would be glad of any help.

Solution 1

The package apport_2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4_all.deb is the one causing problems, you should remove it sudo apt-get purge apport

Also python is throwing out errors about module configparser install it via pip install configparser

Solution 2

I had the same problem today on a Ubuntu 16.04.01 LTS Server. After a bit of reading and thinking what I had done on the system, I figured it had to do with the fact, that I changed the default python to Python3.5. For me, changing the python back to 2.7, doing the upgrade and switching back to 3.5 worked.

Changing the default python:

root@web03:~>update-alternatives --list python
/usr/bin/python2.7
/usr/bin/python3
root@web03:~>python
Python 3.5.2 (default, Nov 17 2016, 17:05:23)
[GCC 5.4.0 20160609] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>
root@web03:~>update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python2.7 3
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/python2.7 to provide /usr/bin/python (python) in auto mode
root@web03:~>python
Python 2.7.12 (default, Nov 19 2016, 06:48:10)
[GCC 5.4.0 20160609] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>

Do your dist-upgrade, probably you need to use -f or do the --force-remove from the above comments, if you have tried it with python 3 active, like I did.

After you have a clean install/upgrade, you can switch your python back, if you need python 3 as default:

root@web03:~>update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python2.7 1
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/python3 to provide /usr/bin/python (python) in auto mode
root@web03:~>python
Python 3.5.2 (default, Nov 17 2016, 17:05:23)
[GCC 5.4.0 20160609] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>

Comments

[user635698]

... The following packages will be REMOVED: apport* apport-gtk* 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 2 to remove and 7 not upgraded. 2 not fully installed or removed. After this operation, 982 kB disk space will be freed. ... Errors were encountered while processing: apport E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

[Arduino_Sentinel]

paste the all error,and please improve your formatting while pasting the error

[Arduino_Sentinel]

then try to force remove it sudo dpkg --remove --force-remove-reinstreq apport then do sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get -f install

[user635698]

doesn't work. I added the errors above.

[Arduino_Sentinel]

when you cd /var/lib/dpkg/info/ do you see the package apport?if yes,remove everything there sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/info/apport* the try the --force-remove again

[Arduino_Sentinel]

Glad it helped, cheers!!

[muru]

Changing/usr/bin/python to use python 3 is a bad idea. That won't be the first thing that breaks

[Eric]

This solved my issue, change python version to 2.7 via ln -sf /usr/bin/python2.7 /usr/bin/python

[TyForHelpDude]

@EricWang you are hero!

[Joshua Besneatte]

Not sure how this pertains to the question? Can you elaborate?

[s g]

Before getting hosed by bringing your python installation(s) into the picture, first try the above method for removing apport ^^^