Paul Garth's Projects & Actions

Overview:
This error was self-inflicted as I remember the computer was shutdown during an upgrade. Focus being on Adobe.
Error message shows up when doing upgrade and there is a also a StopSign at the top of the screen.
Desired Outcome:
Fix whatever is ailing the system so I can continue getting updates/patches, etc
Next Actions:
sudo apt-get update
-Came back at the end with, “N: Ignoring file ‘salutis.net’ in directory ‘/etc/apt/sources.list.d/’ as it has an invalid filename extension
Someday posted this in a forum: You probably have some package that has loads of dependencies. To have a look, type sudo aptitude. That should let you see the problem…
-Sounds correct, as I think there is an issue with a dependency regarding Adobe Flash
-System came back with “Suggest 5 keeps”. Ended up clicking “G” which seemed to be the right thing to do — Update/Resolve packages.
-Note: During this process, it failed with this message “Errors were encountered while processing: adobe-flashplugin. e: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1). A package failed to install”
-Note: Within Aptitude, I searched for “adobe-flashplugin”. Came back with Adobe Flash Player plugin Version 10> This package will download… I clicked on “G” to download/install/remove pkgs. Came back with: dpkg: error processing adobe-flashplugin (–remove): subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2. No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already postinst called with argument ‘abort-remove’ dpkg: error while cleaning up: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1 Errors were encountered while processing: adobe-flashplugin
-Found this link: http://askubuntu.com/questions/100463/adobe-flashplugin-conflicts-with-flashplugin-downloader-error-while-trying-to
-I ran “sudo apt-get remove flashplugin-downloader” and got back — Package flashplugin-downloader is not installed, so not removed. It recommends running “apt-get -f install” because there are several unmet dependencies: Firefox: Breaks: adobe-flashplugin and other errors about file called salutis.net within /etc/apt/sources.list.d
-Ran “sudo apt-get -f install” as the system and the boards appear to be recommending this and got — Following extra packages will be installed – firefox firefox-globalmenu; Suggested packages: latex-xft-fonts; The following packages will be removed – adobe-flashplugin; The following packages will be upgraded: firefox firefox-globalmenu. After running, same errors as before — no change.
-Tried this command from another board: sudo apt-get remove –purge flashplugin-installer (which came back with the error that it wasn’t installed, but there are unmet dependencies).
-This board post maybe close — http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/926213
I followed the idea of going to mozilla.org and downloading latest firefox, which is version 13.0.1. Clicked on Open with Archive Manager (default). Reading Archive… Extracted to new folder — FireFox13; Clicked on Updater (Note: I think that’s the right thing to do); Note: Not very clear on what to click to run the installer to upgrade FireFox; Restarted — still on FireFox 12; Went into Ubuntu Software Center; Something about repairing package manager before I can install/upgrade — still coming back within error about adobe-flashplugin
-I love it how people say “I installed manually” but don’t say how they did that — I found http://www.liberiangeek.net/2012/04/download-and-install-firefox-manually-in-ubuntu-12-04-precise-pangolin/. I attempted to remove FireFox Web Browser within Ubuntu Software Center and of course got the package system is broken. It did come back with: firefox: Depends: libgcc11 (>=1:4:1.1) but 1:4.6.3-1ubuntu5 is installed. Recommended to remove any extensions. Removed UbuFox extension for Firefox – mentioned that it enables searching for missing plugins from ubuntu software catalog. Same error – package system is broken.
-This site may be something — http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1974285
-Tried going to this site — get.adobe.com/flashplayer — 11.2.202.236 Some message about Adobe Flash Player 11.2 will be the last version to target Linux as a support platform. Adobe will continue to provide security backports to Flash Player 11.2 for Linux — I think this means when I’ve fixed this issue I need to find something that doesn’t rely on Adobe. Downloaded, but the readme file assumes a deeper knowledge of placing files, than I currently have.
-This link is getting closer to what may have happened — http://askubuntu.com/questions/144152/ubuntu-upgrade-breaks-firefox
Edit the following file with root permission (e.g. sudo vim):
/var/lib/dpkg/info/adobe-flashplugin.prerm
Go to the line:
set -e
Delete the line. Save the file and reissue your upgrade commands. (I actually proceeded to remove and re-add flash and Firefox.)
N.B. caveat emptor: the fix may have side-effects I haven’t seen yet but I’ve survived a week.
Explanation:
The problem is the adobe-flashplugin “prerm” (pre-remove) script expects update-alternatives to exit cleanly. Our (I had the same problem) systems aren’t exiting cleanly there. The fix says ignore the error and keep going.
-Note: I commented out the “set -e”; update-manager -d (which run upgrade manager, and said I could only do a partial upgrade, which I attempted);
– https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/adobe-flashplugin/+bug/412944
-After attempting again the partial upgrade, considering I had commented out the “set -e”, I still got the error: Could not install ‘adobe-flashplugin’ subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2
-Note: Within the directory /var/lib/dpkg/info there are various files: adobe-flashplugin.postinst; adobe-flashplugin.prerm; adobe-flashplugin.list; adobe-flashplugin.prerm.save; adobe-flashplugin.md5sums
-Note: doing a nano adobe-flashplugin.postinst and commenting out the “set -e”. Note: I had to do “sudo su – ” to get into root
-Note: This time I was root and I think I actually save to this file -=- /var/lib/dpkg/info/adobe-flashplugin.prerm — I commented out the “set -e” and confirmed. To get into root — sudo su –
-NOTE: Freakin progress now that I did the “set -e”… After the removing adobe-flashplugin it gave a bunch of update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for iceape-flashplugin… Still gave error about: N: Ignoring file ‘salutis.net’ in directory… (See error above).
Note: These commands work in Ubuntu with “remove” vs “uninstall
sudo apt-get uninstall –purge adobe-flashplugin — ran ok
sudo apt-get uninstall –purge adobe-flash-properties-gtk – unable to locate package
sudo apt-get uninstall firefox – ran ok
sudo apt-get install firefox – ran ok
sudo apt-get install flashplugin-installer – ran ok
Note: So far so good, but the fact is that I don’t really understand what I’m doing — just following directions. I’ll add to my Read/Review list to go deeper into this stuff.
Note: Flash Plugin installed.
-Ran Firefox and confirmed version 13.0.1
-The StopSign went away — awesome…
-Went into Ubuntu Software Center – clicked in top right on “Updates Available” — The software on this computer is up to date. That means that when I ran the partial upgrade it completed all necessary updates.
-Went back into terminal and checked /var/lib/dpkg/info and the there is only one file now for adobe-flashplugin.prerm.save