Package: mime-support
Version: 3.37-1
Severity: minor
I think this problem arises only in weird cases, and so have marked it
minor. However, the problem did affect other packages, or at least
the log of their installation.
If you deem the case too weird, you can just close this.
A recent upgrade went wrong when my / partition filled up. I got
several errors like this
Setting up kpdf (3.5.5-2) ...
Error: '/etc/mailcap' is not in required format -- not updated
Restore from backup or delete and re-install mime-support package
(with various packages being setup).
I cleared room and continued the upgrade. However, the /etc/mailcap
errors continued. I tried
#apt-get -q --purge --reinstall install mime-support
Preparing to replace mime-support 3.37-1 (using
.../mime-support_3.37-1_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement mime-support ...
Setting up mime-support (3.37-1) ...
Error: '/etc/mailcap' is not in required format -- not updated
Restore from backup or delete and re-install mime-support package
Since /etc/mailcap was empty (0 bytes), I deleted it (hmm, I read the
error message as meaning "delete mime-support", but probably you meant
"delete /etc/mailcap"). The reinstall command then worked.
Issues:
1) The upgrade would be safer if it didn't delete /etc/mailcap before
being sure the new one is in place. I'm not sure if that's possible
given the package infrastructure.
2) It would be nice if the upgrade/reinstallation were able to proceed
in the face of this problem.
3) This might be a clearer error message, if it's what you mean:
'/etc/mailcap' is not in required format -- not updated
Restore it from backup or delete the file and re-install the
mime-support package.
Finally, if there's anything I need to do to get my system back to
normal (e.g., reinstalling all the packages affected by the original
error), I'd appreciate if you let me know.
Thanks.
-- System Information:
Debian Release: 4.0
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (500, 'testing'), (500, 'stable'), (50, 'unstable'), (40,
'experimental')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.17-2-k7
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C (charmap=ANSI_X3.4-1968)
mime-support depends on no packages.
Versions of packages mime-support recommends:
ii file 4.17-4 Determines file type using "magic"
-- no debconf information
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