[Bug 894079] Re: package man-db 2.6.0.2-2 failed to install/upgrade: ErrorMessage: subprocess installed post-installation script was killed by signal (Terminated)

[Colin Watson]

*** This bug is a duplicate of bug 1372673 ***
    https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1372673

Thanks for your report.  The basic problem here is that man-db's trigger
uses debconf to decide whether to update the manual page database, but
debconf is not always reliably usable in triggers.  I finally figured
out a simple way to avoid this problem, which I'm tracking as bug
1372673.  If you are still affected by this locally (which I realise is
unlikely in the case of some of the older bugs of this type), then
running "sudo dpkg --configure -a && sudo apt-get -f install" in a
terminal should normally be enough to get the package management system
back to a sensible state.

** This bug has been marked a duplicate of bug 1372673
   excessive debconf use when triggered

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Title:
  package man-db 2.6.0.2-2 failed to install/upgrade: ErrorMessage:
  subprocess installed post-installation script was killed by signal
  (Terminated)

Status in “man-db” package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  The installation of man-db failed when upgrading my Ubuntu 10.10
  64-bit install to 11.04. It hung at "Processing triggers for man-
  db..." in the terminal view. I waited for ten minutes, but it did not
  progress, and there was no CPU or harddisk activity. I had to kill -9
  the man-db.postinst process to continue (it did not respond to a
  regular kill).

  The installation then progressed, but then aborted at the end of
  installing the upgrades with "Could not install the upgrades/The
  upgrade has aborted. Your system could be in an unusable state. A
  recovery will run now (dpkg --configure -a)."

  The update then aborted without doing the "clean up" step, so I have
  no idea what state my system is in now. I haven't rebooted yet to see
  if it will boot.

  The upgrade process should definitely be more robust when there are
  failures, instead of just quitting and leaving the user to figure out
  what the hell has happened and what state his system is in!

  ProblemType: Package
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
  Package: man-db 2.6.0.2-2
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-12.51-generic 2.6.38.8
  Uname: Linux 2.6.38-12-generic x86_64
  NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
  ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu4
  Architecture: amd64
  Date: Wed Nov 23 17:19:20 2011
  ErrorMessage: ErrorMessage: subprocess installed post-installation script was killed by signal (Terminated)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
  SourcePackage: man-db
  Title: package man-db 2.6.0.2-2 failed to install/upgrade: ErrorMessage: subprocess installed post-installation script was killed by signal (Terminated)
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-11-23 (0 days ago)

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