[Bug 990121] Re: package update-notifier-common 0.119ubuntu8.1 failed to install/upgrade: ErrorMessage: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 143

[Craig Hansen]

As a further note, the window in which the update-install proceeds is too large to fit on a 1024x600 display when the terminal-sub-window is open - it makes it very difficult to see what step the installation is at when it hangs up for hours.
If you look at the VarLogDistupgradeApttermlog.gz you can see a bunch of stuff on the terminal-log at the place where it was hung up - I was trying to type Shift-tabs at the window to try to get to what I though might be some invisible buttons below the visible portion of the screen. Eventually, the terminal-sub-window scrolled up because the of the junk I was typing so I could see where the installation was hanging. The terminal-sub-window ought to only open large enough to fit on the screen, and/or there needs to be some way to resize the entire window to fit on the screen.

The error that is logged here in the bug report resulted from me sending
a kill signal to the process that was hung. At that point the
installation proceeded without the update-notifier-common package being
upgraded, and the install-script went back at a later point and
reinstalled this and several other packages that failed installation
because they, too, were attempting to download additional software
during the install-phase rather than the download-phase. Perhaps its the
case that this apparently hung process would have terminated after some
additional hours, but it was certainly testing my patience.

I gather that this clumsy process results from the use of third-party
software that can't be kept in the usual repositories, but it shouldn't
be happening this way - surely the package manager could be configured
to load the third-party software along with all the other .deb files
during the download-phase of the upgrade installation.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/990121

Title:
  package update-notifier-common 0.119ubuntu8.1 failed to
  install/upgrade: ErrorMessage: subprocess installed post-installation
  script returned error exit status 143

Status in “update-notifier” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  When performing update-install of 12.04 (from 11.10), update-notifier-
  common attempts to download additional software during installation.
  When network errors occur, this can take a hideously long time, and
  there's no mechanism to abort or restart the download provided. These
  downloads should be occuring during the download phase, not the
  installation phase.

  ProblemType: Package
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
  Package: update-notifier-common 0.119ubuntu8.1
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.37-generic 3.2.14
  Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic i686
  ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu6
  Architecture: i386
  Date: Fri Apr 27 13:45:22 2012
  ErrorMessage: ErrorMessage: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 143
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Netbook-Remix 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release i386 (20091028.4)
  PackageArchitecture: all
  SourcePackage: update-notifier
  Title: package update-notifier-common 0.119ubuntu8.1 failed to install/upgrade: ErrorMessage: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 143
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-04-27 (0 days ago)

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