<RESOLVED>One big problem

[mdre808]

Ideally I want to clean the system. I saw on the web it said such "sudo aptitude search ?obsolete" to clean the obsoletes, then "sudo  aptitude purge ~o' will do all the work. As it was cleaning, the terminal showed that
"Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] y
(Reading database ... 187034 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing geoip-database-contrib (1.19) ...
dpkg: error processing package geoip-database-contrib (--remove):
installed geoip-database-contrib package post-removal script subprocess was killed by signal (Killed)
dpkg: too many errors, stopping
Errors were encountered while processing:
geoip-database-contrib
Processing was halted because there were too many errors.
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)"
Sadly, suddenly I found myself cannot do the upgrading , nor the installing (and removing as well); because of a ghost-like "geoip-database-contrib' hangs on the system everytime I do the installing(or remove) and upgrading thing, it appears. For example, "E: geoip-database-contrib: installed geoip-database-contrib package post-removal script subprocess was killed by signal (Killed)". I just wanna clean, and I was in big trouble.

[lami07]

Try sudo dpkg --configure -a

[mdre808]

No, it does not work. both installing and removing showed this  geoip-database-contrib problem, then never got finished. The system always tries to remove "geoip-database-contrib" that always fail to be remove and stops every intalling /removing / upgrading; in that case, always appears " an error occurred...E: geoip-database-contrib: installed geoip-database-contrib package post-removal script subprocess was killed by signal (Killed)". "geoip-database-contrib"  like a ghost, haunt the system when it's going to get upgraded things.

[bin]

geoip-database-contrib is a contrib package from Debian Stretch (now oldstable)

So, if you are running a Stretch based version of Sparky (4 series) then you need to check whether you still have the contrib repo enabled.

If you just grabbed the deb and installed it on a Buster - or even Bullseye - system then it will get a bit more complicated. You would probably need to add the Stretch repo data and then re run install and remove - possibly you'd need to try with the -f switch.

It could get messy so try to avoid using any upgrade switch while you're doing it.

[mdre808]

How?

[bin]

Which version of Sparky are you running?

Run inxi -F in a terminal. The third line down will show Distro:......

Next run sudo apt policy - that will produce a longish output - copy and paste the whole lot - then in your reply post  click the # button above the reply box and paste in he gap between the 2 code boxes.

[mdre808]

Kernel: 5.9.11-sparky-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: LXQt 0.14.1 Distro: SparkyLinux 6 (Po-Tolo)

[mdre808]

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Package files:                                                                                                                       
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status                                                                                                             
     release a=now                                                                                                                   
1001 https://repo.sparkylinux.org potolo/main i386 Packages                                                                           
     release o=SparkyLinux,a=testing,n=potolo,l=SparkyLinux,c=main,b=i386                                                             
     origin repo.sparkylinux.org                                                                                                     
1001 https://repo.sparkylinux.org potolo/main amd64 Packages
     release o=SparkyLinux,a=testing,n=potolo,l=SparkyLinux,c=main,b=amd64
     origin repo.sparkylinux.org
1001 https://repo.sparkylinux.org core/main i386 Packages
     release o=SparkyLinux,a=core,n=core,l=SparkyLinux,c=main,b=i386
     origin repo.sparkylinux.org
1001 https://repo.sparkylinux.org core/main amd64 Packages
     release o=SparkyLinux,a=core,n=core,l=SparkyLinux,c=main,b=amd64
     origin repo.sparkylinux.org
1001 https://repo.sparkylinux.org unstable/main i386 Packages
     release o=SparkyLinux,a=unstable,n=unstable,l=SparkyLinux,c=main,b=i386
     origin repo.sparkylinux.org
1001 https://repo.sparkylinux.org unstable/main amd64 Packages
     release o=SparkyLinux,a=unstable,n=unstable,l=SparkyLinux,c=main,b=amd64
     origin repo.sparkylinux.org
500 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/apacheoo-deb/debian testing/main i386 Packages
     release o=http://www.apache.org,a=testing,n=bullseye,l=Apache OpenOffice packaging team,c=main,b=i386
     origin downloads.sourceforge.net
500 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/apacheoo-deb/debian testing/main amd64 Packages
     release o=http://www.apache.org,a=testing,n=bullseye,l=Apache OpenOffice packaging team,c=main,b=amd64
     origin downloads.sourceforge.net
500 http://www.geogebra.net/linux stable/main i386 Packages
     release o=www.geogebra.net,n=stable,l=apt repository,c=main,b=i386
     origin www.geogebra.net
500 http://www.geogebra.net/linux stable/main amd64 Packages
     release o=www.geogebra.net,n=stable,l=apt repository,c=main,b=amd64
     origin www.geogebra.net
500 http://deb-multimedia.org bullseye/non-free i386 Packages
     release o=Unofficial Multimedia Packages,a=testing,n=bullseye,l=Unofficial Multimedia Packages,c=non-free,b=i386
     origin deb-multimedia.org
500 http://deb-multimedia.org bullseye/non-free amd64 Packages
     release o=Unofficial Multimedia Packages,a=testing,n=bullseye,l=Unofficial Multimedia Packages,c=non-free,b=amd64
     origin deb-multimedia.org
500 http://deb-multimedia.org bullseye/main i386 Packages
     release o=Unofficial Multimedia Packages,a=testing,n=bullseye,l=Unofficial Multimedia Packages,c=main,b=i386
     origin deb-multimedia.org
500 http://deb-multimedia.org bullseye/main amd64 Packages
     release o=Unofficial Multimedia Packages,a=testing,n=bullseye,l=Unofficial Multimedia Packages,c=main,b=amd64
     origin deb-multimedia.org
500 http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye/non-free i386 Packages
     release o=Debian,a=testing,n=bullseye,l=Debian,c=non-free,b=i386
     origin deb.debian.org
500 http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye/non-free amd64 Packages
     release o=Debian,a=testing,n=bullseye,l=Debian,c=non-free,b=amd64
     origin deb.debian.org
500 http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye/contrib i386 Packages
     release o=Debian,a=testing,n=bullseye,l=Debian,c=contrib,b=i386
     origin deb.debian.org
500 http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye/contrib amd64 Packages
     release o=Debian,a=testing,n=bullseye,l=Debian,c=contrib,b=amd64
     origin deb.debian.org
500 http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye/main i386 Packages
     release o=Debian,a=testing,n=bullseye,l=Debian,c=main,b=i386
     origin deb.debian.org
500 http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye/main amd64 Packages
     release o=Debian,a=testing,n=bullseye,l=Debian,c=main,b=amd64
     origin deb.debian.org
Pinned packages:

[bin]

OK

ls -l /var/lib/dpkg/info | grep -i geoip-database-contrib

this will produce an output something like

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:~$ ls -l /var/lib/dpkg/info | grep -i inxi
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root      15 Feb  9  2019 inxi.conffiles
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     423 Jun  3  2019 inxi.list
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     379 Feb  9  2019 inxi.md5sums

Obviously this is for the inxi package but you should get the same type of output for geoip......

Now, we still do not know how you installed the package - possibly download and dpkg or local apt install?

If all else fails you may just have to remove all the bits by hand. If you do not have the deb file any more you can get it from here. Just download it - don't try to install :)

http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/contrib/g/geoip-database-contrib/geoip-database-contrib_1.19_all.deb

You can open it in an xarchiver or similar. It contains a couple of tgz files that contain the compressed files that are put in place during the install. Fortunately there are not too many for this.
You then go through the file structure as root deleting all the files shown in the deb file.

OR - and I would try this first.

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sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/info/geoip-database-contrib.* /home/yourusername/a-folder-in-your-home/

Then try a

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sudo apt update and see what happens.

[mdre808]

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ls -l /var/lib/dpkg/info | grep -i geoip-database-contrib
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root     122 Jun 17  2016 geoip-database-contrib.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root      46 Dec  2 10:34 geoip-database-contrib.list
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     395 Jun 17  2016 geoip-database-contrib.md5sums
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    1294 Jun 17  2016 geoip-database-contrib.postinst
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    1339 Jun 17  2016 geoip-database-contrib.postrm
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    2156 Jun 17  2016 geoip-database-contrib.preinst
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root     411 Jun 17  2016 geoip-database-contrib.prerm
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    8090 Jun 17  2016 geoip-database-contrib.templates

[mdre808]

It is magical--this last command works ,so I can do these installing and removing  now!   Is there any wrong with "sudo aptitude search ?obsolete" or "sudo  aptitude purge ~o", which triggered this big problem?

[lami07]

It is magical--this last command works ,so I can do these installing and removing  now!   Is there any wrong with "sudo aptitude search ?obsolete" or "sudo  aptitude purge ~o", which triggered this big problem?

Use sudo apt autoremove instead.

[bin]

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ls -l /var/lib/dpkg/info | grep -i geoip-database-contrib
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root     122 Jun 17  2016 geoip-database-contrib.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root      46 Dec  2 10:34 geoip-database-contrib.list
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     395 Jun 17  2016 geoip-database-contrib.md5sums
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    1294 Jun 17  2016 geoip-database-contrib.postinst
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    1339 Jun 17  2016 geoip-database-contrib.postrm
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    2156 Jun 17  2016 geoip-database-contrib.preinst
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root     411 Jun 17  2016 geoip-database-contrib.prerm
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    8090 Jun 17  2016 geoip-database-contrib.templates

Good - so now all you need to do is run

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sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/info/geoip-database-contrib.* /home/yourusername/a-folder-in-your-home/ You will need to have created a folder in your home area into which you can move the files and alter the command to fit.

So for example on my machine it might be

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sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/info/geoip-database-contrib.* /home/robin/geoip-apt-stuff/

Not sure abput the obsolete switch -

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sudo apt autoremove is the way to do it. That generates a list of packages that are no longer required according to apt. HOWEVER - I always copy that list to a text file before running it as a backstop in case something gets removed that is needed at application level.

[mdre808]

sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/info/geoip-database-contrib.* /home/yourusername/a-folder-in-your-home/ is this magical, and made my system get upgraded now; I had already run this, after that, I found many new added files that might relate to geoip, I deleted them since  these  annoying "geoip"s drove me nuts. That did not cause any problem after I got rid of those files. By the way , still I do not know what are the "trash" or useless to be better removed nor what is vital, essential. Thanks a lot.

[paxmark1]

For getting rid of programs that are 99.999% sure are not going to be used  - going into a terminal and typing

"sudo apt autoclean"   is very safe.   If you do not wish to use the command line and you like Sparky, I would recommend using aptus.   Read the wiki.   

Of course if you are not sure, the best thing to do is wait and watch.   

If you truly want to master Debian-Sparky,  start with

"man apt"   , read and learn.