how to force remove a half-installed package?

I have installed knoppix 3.4 on HD, and am using 2.6.6 (from 2004/05/17).
I was removing all those games that I don't need, and one of them is giving all kinds of trouble, namely frozen-bubble-data.

Removing frozen-bubble ...
Purging configuration files for frozen-bubble ...
dpkg: error processing frozen-bubble-data (--remove):
Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should
reinstall it before attempting a removal.
Errors were encountered while processing:
frozen-bubble-data
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

I tried to different remove method (purge, force overwrite, reinstall, etc), it just doesn't work.

I tried to re-install, but it complains that the downloaded deb package has no script. Is there any other way (even manual) that I can get rid of this stupid thing?

TIA

The thing, this package does not have any file installed:

dpkg -L frozen-bubble-data

returns

Package `frozen-bubble-data' does not contain any files (!)

How can I manually hack this out? This is causing all kinds of problem with other install/upgrade. I need to get over this fast, have been wasted a whole day on this already. Someone please give a hint on how to get it out.

TIA

Don't have an answer... but I'd like to know a solution for this as well

Someone got to know how to fix this problem, please....

How do I make apt/dpkg ignore this stupid package, if I can't remove at all? I'm trying to install/upgrade other packages, but this always gets into the way.

I've had this happen as well. It seems to work better to run dpkg directly rather than through apt-get.
Try dpkg -P <package>.
Also check man dpkg for forcing commands. Can't check right now, I'm in Mandrake which doesn't have dpkg.
Also do deborphan & apt-get clean.
deborphan | xargs apt-get -y remove
will clean out any stray files from other deletes. You will probably have to run it two or three times to get everything.
Hope this helps.

Thanks for replying. I had already tried different things directly with dpkg, but that stupid package just gets in the way of everything. dpkg --purge would not do anything, just throws me an error:

dpkg: error processing frozen-bubble-data (--purge):
Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should
reinstall it before attempting a removal.
Errors were encountered while processing:
frozen-bubble-data

Tried re-install, force-remove-reinstreq, and combinations of other options. Nothing can handle. I'm suprised that there's no other "expert" tool for the last rescue, which you can just say "fuck it, just get rid of the fucking thing or forget about it, give me back my system".

The thing is totally screwed, I can't do anything with apt/dpkg related works. Everytime I try something, it will process this first, and exits with an error.

I just want to get rid of this stupid thing without re-installing. I used rpm on RH for years, never got this kind of screw up. I thought apt on debian is supposed to be much more solid and nicer, guess that's not what I found out, heh?

Is there any other way to manually clean it up? If the packaging system can hold your machine as hostage, that's not a solid one, for sure.

Sorry for venting here, but I'll re-install the whole damn thing from scratch and would more time.

Just a guess....

Code:

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dpkg --force-remove-reinstreq --purge frozen-bubble-data

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Try this:

Code:

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touch /usr/games/frozen-bubble.wav

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Then do apt-get remove frozen-bubble frozen-bubble-data

I was having the same problem and I just figured it out. I went to /usr/games and rm frozen-bubble. Then I just did an apt-get install frozen-bubble and it installed both frozen-bubble and frozen-bubble-data just fine, no more errors. Hope it works for you too.

Thanks all for replying.

I tried what mzlilikazi said, doing
touch /usr/games/frozen-bubble.wav,
then
apt-get remove --purge frozen-bubble frozen-bubble-data

That does not work either. What it does is changing the name of frozen-bubble.wav to frozen-bubble, and gives me the same error.

What mbarron suggested works fine for installing frozen-bubble, but I still can't remove that stupid frozen-bubble-data, and removing was my purpose.

I don't know anything about those games, and I don't want to know either. I just want to get rid of all of them from my computer. And I want it done cleanly. Sure, I can do a "dpkg -L" to list all the files and manually remove all of them, but then, why do I need a packaging system again?

Have you tried this:

Code:

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apt-get --reinstall remove --purge frozen-bubble-data frozen-bubble

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This command would reinstall it first then remove and purge it right afterwards.

Let me know if it works or not.

Durand

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cronex2000

Thanks all for replying.

I tried what mzlilikazi said, doing
touch /usr/games/frozen-bubble.wav,
then
apt-get remove --purge frozen-bubble frozen-bubble-data

That does not work either. What it does is changing the name of frozen-bubble.wav to frozen-bubble

---

Hmmm Did you execute that as root? If you read info touch it says:

Quote:

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Any FILE that does not exist is created empty.

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You would need to use mv to change the name of the file. Does /usr/games/frozen-bubble.wav exist already?

I can undestand why you would think apt a poor system when you have troubles like this but please don't think that this is what it's always like. This is a bug that has also been mentioned on the mailing list. The above post is how one individual fixed it.

I think this is not technically an apt problem but rather just a missing file. I once deleted /var/backups/dpkg.status and had to copy it over from another system. Suddenly apt began telling me that I had certain packages installed when I did not. :roll:
I *think* apt is simply doing what is is supposed to.

If you still can't get it to work you could join the mailing list. Someone there will try to help. apt really does work.

Quote:

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Hmmm Did you execute that as root? If you read...

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Oh, I know what I'm doing on this level. Not a kernel hacker, but definitely fluent on Linux. Been using Linux (mainly RH) for many years, developing apps on Linux on a daily basis and managing a few Linux servers at our company (all RH, again). We also have RH and mandrake dev stations (about 15).

Our CVS server, bugzilla, web, email servers, dns, etc, all running on RH, and managed by myself. Since we are a small shop, old computers also become our firewall and gateway machines, also running RH Linux and OpenBSD.

So, I know my Linux ok. I always heard apt is very nice, blah blah, but this one is driving me nut. I want to be well versed in Debian as well, and I want to learn all the tools on Debian the right way.

Thanks for all the reply. I just install frozen-bubble and leave it as it is, eating up a whoppy 6.5MB of my HD :wink: and wait the next release that'll fix this hot potato.

Now, I just need to get rid of other annoying stuffs as well :)

I have the exact same problem with frozen-bubble-data, it seems that there are two diferents packages with the same versions 10.0.4 in the apt sources and that gets dpkg confused.
I sucesfully removed the f*cking frozen-bubble-data package with this command:
# dpkg --remove --force-remove-reinstreq frozen-bubble-data
now i cant play frozen-bubble :cry: but apt works again 8)
Hope this helped you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cronex2000

Thanks for all the reply. I just install frozen-bubble and leave it as it is, eating up a whoppy 6.5MB of my HD :wink: and wait the next release that'll fix this hot potato.

Now, I just need to get rid of other annoying stuffs as well :)

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If I'm understanding this right, you are able to reinstall frozen bubble & apt is now a happy camper. If apt is now working, you could try upgrading frozen bubble then deleting it. Or try dpkg -P it which may now successfully remove it.

Apt is a very convenient sytem & IMHO superior to rpm's....when it works!

For removeing 'the other stuff' the easiest way is to make up a PurgeList & trash a lot in one go.
apt-get remove `cat PurgeList1` (the ` is the character under the ~ key)
Check with the remastering how-to. The PurgeList much be all one line (a space-separated list), not a CR separated list, and you can use wildcards ie apt-get remove frozen*.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CrashedAgain

The PurgeList much be all one line (a space-separated list), not a CR separated list, and you can use wildcards ie apt-get remove frozen*.

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I beg to differ. :) A CR list works just fine.

1.create a Frozen-bubble.wav in the /etc/games/ directory
2.install the game....
3. (optional) remove it

it solved the problem on my system
:D :D :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mzilikazi

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CrashedAgain

The PurgeList much be all one line (a space-separated list), not a CR separated list, and you can use wildcards ie apt-get remove frozen*.

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I beg to differ. :) A CR list works just fine.

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OK, well sometimes it worked for me too. :)
but, with a CR separated list, if apt-get tried to remove something it couldn't find, it just stopped. With a space separated list, it continued on. So I recommended a space separated list, it seems more reliable.

[quote="Sol"]1.create a Frozen-bubble.wav in the /etc/games/ directory

Sorry the file has to be created in the /usr/games directory :?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mzilikazi

Try this:

Code:

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touch /usr/games/frozen-bubble.wav

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Then do apt-get remove frozen-bubble frozen-bubble-data

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this worked for me

thanks

one thing i did to get synaptic working again was update to
Frozen-bubble unstable 1.0.0-5 worked like a charm :-)

apt-get -t install frozen-bubble-data