I've upgraded emacs-common on both of my computers without issue, so the issue that the OP is experiencing may be unique to the emacs-lucid package, which I do not have installed on either of my computers.
- Bug#1017779: emacs-common dies in postinst with "corrup... Harald Dunkel
- Bug#1017779: please test David Bremner
- Bug#1017779: emacs-common dies in postinst with "c... Kurt Meyer