Upgrading Firefox fails. lzma error: compressed data is corrupt

Question

Firefox fails to update due to corrupted download (deb)

Preparing to unpack .../firefox_32.0+build1-0ubuntu0.14.04.1_i386.deb ...
Unpacking firefox (32.0+build1-0ubuntu0.14.04.1) over (31.0+build1-0ubuntu0.14.04.1) ...
dpkg-deb (subprocess): decompressing archive member: lzma error:
 compressed data is corrupt
dpkg-deb: error: subprocess <decompress> returned error exit status 2
dpkg: error processing archive
 /var/cache/apt/archives/firefox_32.0+build1-0ubuntu0.14.04.1_i386.deb (--unpack):
 cannot copy extracted data for './usr/lib/firefox/libxul.so' to '/usr/lib/firefox/libxul.so.dpkg-new': 
 unexpected end of file or stream
Please restart all running instances of firefox, or you will experience problems.

Solution 1

Here's how I fixed it.

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

In case this does not work, try manually deleting the package located in /var/cache/apt/archives/path:

The example below is the deb file in question from the date this answer was written. Your file name will be different. It should be easy to find by checking the dpkg.log and/or utilizing bash auto-complete.

sudo rm /var/cache/apt/archives/firefox_32.0+build1-0ubuntu0.14.04.1_i386.deb

Solution 2

apt clean fixed that problem for me on a Ubuntu 18.04.

Solution 3

You need to remove the broken package in the archives directory then update and install firefox.

sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install firefox

Comments

[Elder Geek]

You might go so far as to mention that this will completely nuke your /var/cache/apt/archives/ and recommend an update to repoopulate. It will work, but it's kind of like doing surgery with a hammer. Cheers!

[AHL]

I have run into the same issue (lzma error: compressed data is corrupt) but with the wget command. Is there a fix for this?

[Elder Geek]

@AHL Delete the damaged file from the location you downloaded to and try again? Better yet use the repositories and if the error repeats try a different mirror.