I was finally able to clean up my system by using dpkg with --force-remove-reinstreq to purge preview-latex-style. This did not immediately work, because the package's postrm script attempts to invoke mktexlsr (I think--this is from memory), which wasn't there. I commented out the line, and was finally able to purge the package. Probably --force-all would have done it in one step; since the only thing in the postrm was the invocation of mktexlsr, I think the result would have been the same.
I then purged every package with texlive in the name (are there any others I should zap?). I have not yet tried reinstalling; the mailing list has a report that the problem returned after a purge and install. Because I've already purged the packages, I can't answer some of the questions below. I have some comments below with more information; in particular, see bug #385784 for a diagnosis and 2 possible solutions to the apparent aptitude error (which was actually in the apt libraries). On Mon, Sep 04, 2006 at 09:38:41AM +0200, Frank Küster wrote: > Ross Boylan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Package: texlive > > Version: 2005.dfsg.1-1 > > Severity: normal > > Hi all, > > after reading through the bug log and what you've found out so far, it > seems to me that there are a couple of issues: > > > The various tex's have a checkered history on this system. I think I > > first tried texlive, found it was incompatible with some other stuff, > > removed it, and installed tetex. > > > > In the recent upgrade to KDE 3.5.4 kdegraphics seemed to require texlive > > packages, but these failed with an error that a file was owned by two > > packages, and that I should remove texlive. I attempted to do so. > > > > I was able to proceed with the dist-upgrade. Then I upgraded > > kdegraphics, which no longer seemed to require texlive. > > 1. Why does or did kdegraphics require texlive, and is not satisfied > with tetex? > After the upgrade, the dependence went away. > > Then I attempted to install texlive, leading to the kind of errors > > seen in the attached log. > > > > -- Package-specific info: > > ###################################### > > List of ls-R files > > > > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 27 2006-08-27 23:16 /usr/share/texmf-texlive/ls-R -> > > /var/lib/texmf/ls-R-TEXLIVE > > 2. It is strange that there is only one ls-R file. Please send us the > output of Well, things were in a pretty bad state. As noted in the previous response to this post, mktexlsr wasn't on the system any more. .. > > 5. As far as I understood, dvipdfmx calls mktexlsr unconditionally, this > should probably be a separate bug. That would certainly add safety. However, this only became an issue because other dependencies were messed up, so adding tests might be overkill. > > [ from a later mail by Ross ] > > dpkg: error processing preview-latex-style (--remove): > > Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should > > reinstall it before attempting a removal. > > (Reading database ... terminate called after throwing an instance of > > 'std::logic_error' > > what(): basic_string::_S_construct NULL not valid > > Aborted > > 6. We seem to have exposed a bug in aptitude - or maybe in dpkg. To > find out which, please try the following: Actually, in the bug was in the apt libraries. See bug #385784 for full details, including traces, 2 different patches, a pointer to a related bug, and a reason that the dpkg code may need to change for a proper fix. Ross P.S. I will report here after doing a reinstall.
