This command: addgroup --system --quiet ntp
is idempotent on default precise systems, so it's not quite clear why it fails on your system. Maybe it's possible to do some debugging on running that command. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cat /etc/issue Ubuntu 12.04.5 LTS \n \l ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ dpkg --list | grep ntp ii ntp 1:4.2.6.p3+dfsg-1ubuntu3.4 Network Time Protocol daemon and utility programs ii ntpdate 1:4.2.6.p3+dfsg-1ubuntu3.4 client for setting system time from NTP servers ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ grep ntp /etc/group ntp:x:112: ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo addgroup --system --quiet ntp; echo $? 0 -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Touch seeded packages, which is subscribed to ntp in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1372051 Title: ntp postinst user/group add commands are not idempotent Status in ntp package in Ubuntu: Incomplete Bug description: At do release upgrade from 12.04.05 to 14.04.01, the ntp package failed: Errors were encountered while processing: ntp Error in function: A fatal error occurred Please report this as a bug and include the files /var/log/dist-upgrade/main.log and /var/log/dist-upgrade/apt.log in your report. The upgrade has aborted. Your original sources.list was saved in /etc/apt/sources.list.distUpgrade. SystemError: E:Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) 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). Please report this bug in a browser at http://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-release-upgrader/+filebug and attach the files in /var/log/dist-upgrade/ to the bug report. installArchives() failed Setting up ntp (1:4.2.6.p5+dfsg-3ubuntu2) ... dpkg: error processing package ntp (--configure): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1 Errors were encountered while processing: ntp Upgrade complete The upgrade has completed but there were errors during the upgrade process. In /var/lib/dpkg/info/ntp.postinst the add group / adduser commands fail due to already existing group / user. Appended “ || /bin/true” to those lines, and “dpkg —configure ntp” succeeded. To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ntp/+bug/1372051/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages Post to : touch-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
