Package: dpkg Version: 1.17.6 I got the following error when upgrading the "gyp" package. I ran into this from a ubuntu machine but I reproduced it in a minimal sid chroot as well:
# dpkg -i gyp_0.1~svn1654-1_all.deb (Reading database ... 12267 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack gyp_0.1~svn1654-1_all.deb ... Unpacking gyp (0.1~svn1654-1) over (0.1~svn1654-1) ... Setting up gyp (0.1~svn1654-1) ... root@bod:/tmp# dpkg -i gyp_0.1~svn1729-3_all.deb (Reading database ... 12267 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack gyp_0.1~svn1729-3_all.deb ... Unpacking gyp (0.1~svn1729-3) over (0.1~svn1654-1) ... dpkg: error processing archive gyp_0.1~svn1729-3_all.deb (--install): unable to open '/usr/share/pyshared/gyp-0.1.egg-info/dependency_links.txt.dpkg-new': No such file or directory Errors were encountered while processing: gyp_0.1~svn1729-3_all.deb After some debugging I think the following is what happens: 1. The old package contains a symlink /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gyp-0.1.egg-info 2. The new package contains a directory /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gyp-0.1.egg-info 3. On upgrade the symlink is not replaced with the directory, it still is a symlink, this causes the error. I can send a full dpkg debug log. The debs in question can be downloaded from e.g.: http://launchpadlibrarian.net/154612335/gyp_0.1%7Esvn1729-3_all.deb http://launchpadlibrarian.net/145640491/gyp_0.1%7Esvn1654-1_all.deb But that should not be needed, I also created two minimal debs that seem to trigger the issue: $ sudo dpkg -i symlink-becomes-dir_1.0_all.deb && sudo dpkg -i symlink-becomes-dir_2.0_all.deb && echo "have:" && ls -ald /usr/share/symlink-becomes-dir && printf "\nwant:\n" && dpkg -c symlink-becomes-dir_2.0_all.deb |grep /usr/share/symlink-becomes-dir (Reading database ... 436479 files and directories currently installed.) Removing symlink-becomes-dir ... Selecting previously unselected package symlink-becomes-dir. (Reading database ... 436479 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking symlink-becomes-dir (from symlink-becomes-dir_1.0_all.deb) ... Setting up symlink-becomes-dir (1.0) ... (Reading database ... 436481 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to replace symlink-becomes-dir 1.0 (using symlink-becomes-dir_2.0_all.deb) ... Unpacking replacement symlink-becomes-dir ... Setting up symlink-becomes-dir (2.0) ... have: lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Mar 18 10:07 /usr/share/symlink-becomes-dir -> foo want: drwxr-xr-x root/root 0 2014-03-18 10:08 ./usr/share/symlink-becomes-dir/ As for the real gyp deb: When I inspect the system before dpkg cleans up again, I see the following: # ls -al /usr/share/pyshared/gyp-0.1.egg-info total 16 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Mar 18 08:46 . drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Mar 18 08:46 .. lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 52 Oct 22 02:42 PKG-INFO.dpkg-new -> ../../../../share/pyshared/gyp-0.1.egg-info/PKG-INFO lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 55 Oct 22 02:42 SOURCES.txt.dpkg-new -> ../../../../share/pyshared/gyp-0.1.egg-info/SOURCES.txt lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 64 Oct 22 02:42 dependency_links.txt.dpkg-new -> ../../../../share/pyshared/gyp-0.1.egg-info/dependency_links.txt lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 60 Oct 22 02:42 entry_points.txt.dpkg-new -> ../../../../share/pyshared/gyp-0.1.egg-info/entry_points.txt lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 57 Oct 22 02:42 top_level.txt.dpkg-new -> ../../../../share/pyshared/gyp-0.1.egg-info/top_level.txt Which looks incorrect, a properly installed deb has no symlinks here: # ls -la /usr/share/pyshared/gyp-0.1.egg-info/ total 28 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Mar 18 08:47 . drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Mar 18 08:47 .. -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 242 Oct 22 02:42 PKG-INFO -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1145 Oct 22 02:42 SOURCES.txt -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1 Oct 22 02:42 dependency_links.txt -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 41 Oct 22 02:42 entry_points.txt -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4 Oct 22 02:42 top_level.txt That is because: # ls -la /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gyp-0.1.egg-info lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 40 Jul 23 2013 /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gyp-0.1.egg-info -> ../../../share/pyshared/gyp-0.1.egg-info Which is a directory on a correctly installed package: # ls -lad /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gyp-0.1.egg-info/ drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Mar 18 08:47 /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gyp-0.1.egg-info/ This is also reported in launchpad as https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/dpkg/+bug/1246730 Thanks, Michael
symlink-becomes-dir_1.0_all.deb
Description: application/debian-package
symlink-becomes-dir_2.0_all.deb
Description: application/debian-package
