[Bug 1570310] Re: package systemd 229-4ubuntu4 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2

[John McPherson]

I have encountered this occasionally over several years, and have just
had it happen on an install of Ubuntu 16.10 (clean install of 16.10, not
upgraded from an earlier version).

The postinst script for systemd does

   addgroup --system systemd-journal

This gives the error 
   addgroup: The group `systemd-journal' already exists and is not a system group. Exiting.
and package install fails.

$ dpkg -l systemd
||/ Name           Version      Architecture Description
+++-==============-============-============-=================================
iF  systemd        231-9ubuntu3 amd64        system and service manager


The problem is that addgroup will return 0 for --system if the group
exists and the gid is between FIRST_SYSTEM_GID and LAST_SYSTEM_GID, but
these are not set in the default /etc/adduser.conf file, so 'addgroup
--system systemd-journal' returns 1 instead:

# addgroup --system systemd-journal
addgroup: The group `systemd-journal' already exists and is not a system group. Exiting.
# echo $?
1

# echo 'FIRST_SYSTEM_GID=50' >> /etc/adduser.conf
# echo 'LAST_SYSTEM_GID=300' >> /etc/adduser.conf

# addgroup --system systemd-journal
addgroup: The group `systemd-journal' already exists as a system group. Exiting.
# echo $?
0


The postinst script should be modified to either test if the group already exists (and not rely on addgroup to do it silently), or do  "addgroup --system systemd-journal || true"  to ignore errors from addgroup.


** Changed in: systemd (Ubuntu)
       Status: Expired => Confirmed

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1570310

Title:
  package systemd 229-4ubuntu4 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess
  installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2

Status in systemd package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  I was upgrading from 15.10 to 16.04 when this error occur.

  ProblemType: Package
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
  Package: systemd 229-4ubuntu4
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-18.34-generic 4.4.6
  Uname: Linux 4.4.0-18-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu1
  Architecture: amd64
  Date: Wed Apr 13 21:41:53 2016
  DpkgTerminalLog:
   Preparing to unpack .../systemd_229-4ubuntu4_amd64.deb ...
   De-configuring udev (225-1ubuntu9.1) ...
   dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/systemd_229-4ubuntu4_amd64.deb (--unpack):
    subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2
  DuplicateSignature:
   De-configuring udev (225-1ubuntu9.1) ...
   dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/systemd_229-4ubuntu4_amd64.deb (--unpack):
    subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2
  ErrorMessage: subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-01-08 (96 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 15.04 "Vivid Vervet" - Release amd64 (20150422)
  Lsusb:
   Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0781:5583 SanDisk Corp. 
   Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
   Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04f2:b483 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd 
   Bus 001 Device 002: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
   Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
  MachineType: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. X455LJ
  ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-18-generic root=UUID=70fa96eb-e0d8-4e65-b049-9cb150759b40 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
  RelatedPackageVersions:
   dpkg 1.18.4ubuntu1
   apt  1.2.10
  SourcePackage: systemd
  SystemdDelta:
   [EXTENDED]   /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service → /lib/systemd/system/display-manager.service.d/xdiagnose.conf
   [EXTENDED]   /lib/systemd/system/rc-local.service → /lib/systemd/system/rc-local.service.d/debian.conf
   [EXTENDED]   /lib/systemd/system/systemd-timesyncd.service → /lib/systemd/system/systemd-timesyncd.service.d/disable-with-time-daemon.conf
   
   3 overridden configuration files found.
  Title: package systemd 229-4ubuntu4 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2016-04-13 (0 days ago)
  dmi.bios.date: 04/22/2015
  dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
  dmi.bios.version: X455LJ.203
  dmi.board.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
  dmi.board.name: X455LJ
  dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
  dmi.board.version: 1.0
  dmi.chassis.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
  dmi.chassis.type: 10
  dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
  dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
  dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrX455LJ.203:bd04/22/2015:svnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:pnX455LJ:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:rnX455LJ:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:ct10:cvr1.0:
  dmi.product.name: X455LJ
  dmi.product.version: 1.0
  dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.

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