File "/usr/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloader", line 29, in import debconf

Question

So, I'm trying to install the Flash player plugin, but it says update-notifier-common is not configured. So I do sudo dpkg --configure update-notifier-common and it displays

Traceback (most recent call last):
 File "/usr/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloader", line 29, in <module>
  import debconf
ImportError: No module named debconf
dpkg: error processing update-notifier-common (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 update-notifier-common

But sudo apt-get install debconf gives

Setting up update-notifier-common (0.147.1) ...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloader", line 29, in <module>
    import debconf
ImportError: No module named debconf
dpkg: error processing update-notifier-common (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of flashplugin-installer:
 flashplugin-installer depends on update-notifier-common (>= 0.119ubuntu2); however:
  Package update-notifier-common is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing flashplugin-installer (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
          Errors were encountered while processing:
 update-notifier-common
 flashplugin-installer
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

So, it looks like I can't configure update-notifier-common until I've installed debconf, and I can't install debconf until I'll installed debconf and configured update-notifier-common. Help?

possible duplicate of How do I resolve unmet dependencies? – jobin Jan 12 '14 at 07:30 — jobin, Jan 12 '14 at 07:30
@Jobin not a dupe, check my answer. – Braiam Jan 12 '14 at 16:05 — Braiam, Jan 12 '14 at 16:05

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 12 '14 at 12:44

Your installation of debconf seems corrupt due the lack of the debconf library. If you don't get this:

$ ls -l /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/debconf.py*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   34 nov  3 14:20 /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/debconf.py -> ../../../share/pyshared/debconf.py
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6013 dic  9 01:58 /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/debconf.pyc

$ ls -l /usr/share/pyshared/debconf.py
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5971 nov  3 14:20 /usr/share/pyshared/debconf.py

Then you are in pretty screwed. You may try to repair it using:

mkdir -p ~/debconf.bk
sudo mv /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/debconf.pyc ~/debconf.bk
sudo mv /usr/share/pyshared/debconf.py ~/debconf.bk
apt-get download debconf
dpkg --extract debconf*.deb
sudo pycompile -p debconf
sudo apt-get -f install

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 08 '14 at 00:36

0

no need for the long process Braiam specified.

sudo apt-get install --reinstall debconf

should get you going.

answered Oct 08 '14 at 00:36

SPoage

121
2

This causes the initial Package update-notifier-common is not configured yet to happen – Mark May 24 '15 at 13:45

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 21 '15 at 07:41

0

You need to update your /usr/bin/python to point to python version 2.7

edited Oct 21 '15 at 07:41

hg8

13,462

answered Oct 20 '15 at 13:30

Hayes40oz

1

Can you provide references or a convincing technical explanation ? – Cbhihe Oct 26 '15 at 14:49

File "/usr/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloader", line 29, in import debconf

3 Answers3