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Trying to remove old kernels to make space for an update (currently running 16.04.03 server):

sudo apt autoremove

gives this:

Reading package lists... Done                                                   
Building dependency tree                                                        
Reading state information... Done                                               
You might want to run â??apt-get -f installâ?? to correct these.                
The following packages have unmet dependencies.                                 
 linux-headers-generic : Depends: linux-headers-4.4.0-141-generic but it is not 
installed                                                                       
E: Unmet dependencies. Try using -f.

So, I run:

sudo apt -f autoremove

Doing so brings this:

The following additional packages will be installed:
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  linux-headers-4.4.0-141 linux-headers-4.4.0-141-generic
The following packages will be REMOVED
  linux-headers-4.4.0-109 linux-headers-4.4.0-112 linux-headers-4.4.0-116
  linux-headers-4.4.0-119 linux-headers-4.4.0-127 linux-headers-4.4.0-128
  linux-headers-4.4.0-130 linux-headers-4.4.0-130-generic
  linux-headers-4.4.0-131 linux-headers-4.4.0-131-generic
  linux-headers-4.4.0-133 linux-headers-4.4.0-133-generic
  linux-headers-4.4.0-134 linux-headers-4.4.0-134-generic
  linux-headers-4.4.0-87 linux-image-4.4.0-130-generic
  linux-image-4.4.0-131-generic linux-image-4.4.0-133-generic
  linux-image-4.4.0-134-generic linux-image-extra-4.4.0-130-generic
  linux-image-extra-4.4.0-131-generic linux-image-extra-4.4.0-133-generic
  linux-image-extra-4.4.0-134-generic
The following NEW packages will be installed
  linux-headers-4.4.0-141 linux-headers-4.4.0-141-generic
0 to upgrade, 2 to newly install, 23 to remove and 1 not to upgrade.
2 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/10.8 MB of archives.
After this operation, 1,387 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]                                                  
E: Waited for /usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt || true but it wasn't there     
E: Failure running script /usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt || true

/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/70debconf looks like that:

// Pre-configure all packages with debconf before they are installed.
// If you don't like it, comment it out.
DPkg::Pre-Install-Pkgs {"/usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt || true";};

I can run

/usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --help

There should be enough free space, or is that not enough?

df -h /boot                                              
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on                                
/dev/sda1       472M  106M  342M  24% /boot

I tried, as suggested by George Udosen:

sudo dpkg --configure -a

But that brings:

dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-headers-generic:       
 linux-headers-generic depends on linux-headers-4.4.0-141-generic; however:     
  Package linux-headers-4.4.0-141-generic is not installed.                     

dpkg: error processing package linux-headers-generic (--configure):             
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured                                     
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-generic:               
 linux-generic depends on linux-headers-generic (= 4.4.0.141.147); however:     
  Package linux-headers-generic is not configured yet.                          

dpkg: error processing package linux-generic (--configure):                     
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured                                     
Errors were encountered while processing:                                       
 linux-headers-generic                                                          
 linux-generic

Just for fun, I tried the next suggested command:

sudo apt update

Which brings - after the hits:

Reading package lists... Done                                                   
E: Couldn't wait for subprocess - waitpid (10: No child processes) 

Actually, when trying solutions from other threads I saw that "No child processes" a few times.

Update: Issue solved. Actually, probably it was several. Note: I run the server via Webmin. Some threads suggested that this is a Webmin issue, so before I posted here, I tried to fix the issue directly at the server, but wasn't able to do. But now ....

I found in another thread how to remove the Linux packages that create the problems:

sudo dpkg -P linux-generic
sudo dpkg -P linux-image-generic
sudo dpkg -P linux-headers-generic

That, combined possibly with George Udosen's (thanks a lot!!!) proposals, got rid of the dependency errors and made it possible to install the latest version of Webmin. The

E: Waited for /usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt || true but it wasn't there     
E: Failure running script /usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt || true

turned out to be a Webmin issue and was then gone when runing the autoremove from the server directly.

Thanks a lot for the help! The server will stand again unattended in my empty flat for some time, so it was important to get the issue solved. I can sleep again tonight.

  • 1
    Run sudo dpkg --configure -a, then sudo apt update and following sudo apt install -f and finally sudo apt autoremove! – George Udosen Jan 03 '19 at 13:43
  • Thanks George Udosen. Unfortunately it didn't help. See my updated post. – StefanProb Jan 03 '19 at 13:58
  • Now run sudo apt install -f! – George Udosen Jan 03 '19 at 14:06
  • I found meanwhile in another thread this: sudo dpkg -P linux-generic sudo dpkg -P linux-image-generic sudo dpkg -P linux-headers-generic I did that, and the first dpkg --configure -a went then through without problems. However, the apt update is still the same, and the apt install -f returns without errors, but the apt autoremove still complains that the dpkg-preconfigure wasn't there. – StefanProb Jan 03 '19 at 14:15
  • try reinstall your dpkg package, run sudo apt-get remove --purge dpkg && sudo apt clean && sudo apt-get install -f && sudo apt-get install dpkg && sudo dpkg --configure -a && sudo apt update – abu-ahmed al-khatiri Jan 03 '19 at 14:29

0 Answers0