cannot remove ecryptfs-utils

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This bug did not have a package associated with it, which is important for ensuring that it gets looked at by the proper developers. You can learn more about finding the right package at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. I have classified this bug as a bug in ecryptfs-utils.

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Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better.

Could you please try to force the removal?

sudo apt-get -f purge ecryptfs-utils

I tried to force it, still no love:

$ sudo apt-get -f purge ecryptfs-utils
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
You might want to run `apt-get -f install' to correct these:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
  samba-common: Depends: libtalloc1 but it is not going to be installed
                Depends: libwbclient0 (>= 2:3.2.0) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).

...so then I tried to force removal of both ecryptfs-utils and samba-common, without success:

$ sudo apt-get -f purge ecryptfs-utils samba-common
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  ecryptfs-utils* samba-common*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 2 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 12.1MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
(Reading database ... 46541 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing ecryptfs-utils ...
dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute pre-removal script: Exec format error
dpkg: error processing ecryptfs-utils (--purge):
 subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit status 2
dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute post-installation script: Exec format error
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 2
Removing samba-common ...
update-alternatives: error or eof reading /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/valid.dat for update_mode ()
dpkg: error processing samba-common (--purge):
 subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit status 2

Try these:

sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude -f install
sudo dpkg --force all --remove

I suspect those command will produce the same errors but it is worth a try before we do something that could damage your system. If none of those work then you can try these steps at your own risk:

http://www.khattam.info/2009/08/04/solved-subprocess-pre-removal-script-returned-error-exit-status-2-error/

Let me know if that helps or not.

I am hesitant to mark this bug as complete because I have no way of reproducing it. It could be a hardware failure that corrupted the package or a non-standard entry in sources.list that put you in dependency hell.

My sources.list is really vanilla, so you can rule that out:

$ grep -v "^#" /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty main restricted

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-updates main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-updates main restricted

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-updates universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-updates universe

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty multiverse
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-updates multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-updates multiverse

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jaunty-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jaunty-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jaunty-security universe
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jaunty-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jaunty-security multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jaunty-security multiverse

OK, I finally was able to clear the error after deleting a few errant zero-byte files:

# rm /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/valid.dat
# rm /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/upcase.dat
# rm /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/lowcase.dat
# rm /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/samba-panic-action

I don't know why these zero-byte files would cause a problem, but that seemed to do the trick.

Thanks!

I am glad to see this issue has been resolved! I am curious what those files are used for. I may even recreate those files as zero-length files so I can reproduce the error. If I can then I will complete this bug report and send it up for investigation by a developer. If these files have the potential to cause unexpected problems with dpkg then maybe we can help save someone else the frustration of fixing it.

jcypher:

I am still unable to recreate this problem but I am glad it is resolved. I hope you have a great day! Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better.

I would like this bug to be re-opened. I get the same error after installing ecryptfs-utils and I can't remove it.
I am using x64 Jaunty 9.04. Since installing the package, sometimes I can't even login after locking my screen - it just hangs.

The error message from synaptic when trying to uninstall is:

"E: ecryptfs-utils: subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 1"

Sorry - the actual version of Ubuntu is 9.10 (Karmic)

Found how to successfully uninstall the ecryptfs - see section "How to Remove an Encrypted Private Directory Setup" at

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EncryptedPrivateDirectory#How%20to%20Remove%20an%20Encrypted%20Private%20Directory%20Setup