Hello, I recently experienced this problem when installing/configuring the package in a chroot. The underlying cause is that the initscripts package is not present, which might be something that a conventional Debian installation provides, but which might not be something provided by a debootstrap installation.
Working around the problem is merely a matter of installing initscripts, but it might be helpful if the dependencies for openjdk-7-jre-headless insist on this package. I'm not sure whether it is a package that should be assumed to be present (and thus can be omitted from dependencies), but if so, then we have found a loophole/shortcoming in the relevant packaging policy. Anyway, I hope this report helps others with the problem! Paul
