you're in a maze of twisted little twisted passages, all twisted. this is so cool--i can't purge doc-linux-html. can't install. can't do nothin'.
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 110 not upgraded. (aka 'held back' according to apt-get) why the hell doc-linux-html should be a lynchpin module i'll never know... that's where it dies, and i can't get past it: (i've edited a bit for readability: #### is the root prompt followed by various futile comands, with newlines were inserted above each for visual spacing...) #### apt-get upgrade <<< yada yada, most seems to go smoothly, but i do get tons-o-warnings and errors including multiples of each of these: ldconfig: warning: can't open /usr/lib/libMesaGLw.so (No such file or directory), skipping ldconfig: warning: can't open /usr/lib/libMesaGLwM.so (No such file or directory), skipping dhelp_parse: You can add only directories under /usr/doc! warning: ignoring unknown format `postscript' at /usr/sbin/install-docs line 627, <IN> chunk 20. a few thousand lines later, i get... >>> Errors were encountered while processing: doc-linux-html #### dpkg --pending --configure Setting up doc-linux-html (2000.03-1) ... dhelp_parse: You can add only directories under /usr/doc! dpkg: error processing doc-linux-html (--configure): subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1 Errors were encountered while processing: doc-linux-html #### dpkg -i doc-linux-html dpkg: error processing doc-linux-html (--install): cannot access archive: No such file or directory Errors were encountered while processing: doc-linux-html #### dpkg --purge doc-linux-html (Reading database ... 32163 files and directories currently installed.) Removing doc-linux-html ... dhelp_parse: You can add only directories under /usr/doc! dpkg: error processing doc-linux-html (--purge): subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit status 1 dhelp_parse: You can add only directories under /usr/doc! dpkg: error while cleaning up: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1 Errors were encountered while processing: doc-linux-html #### dpkg --purge doc-linux-html (Reading database ... 32163 files and directories currently installed.) Removing doc-linux-html ... dhelp_parse: You can add only directories under /usr/doc! dpkg: error processing doc-linux-html (--purge): subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit status 1 dhelp_parse: You can add only directories under /usr/doc! dpkg: error while cleaning up: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1 Errors were encountered while processing: doc-linux-html #### dpkg -i doc-linux-html dpkg: error processing doc-linux-html (--install): cannot access archive: No such file or directory Errors were encountered while processing: doc-linux-html #### apt-get install doc-linux-html Reading Package Lists... Done Building Dependency Tree... Done Sorry, doc-linux-html is already the newest version 0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 110 not upgraded. 1 packages not fully installed or removed. Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 0B will be used. Setting up doc-linux-html (2000.03-1) ... dhelp_parse: You can add only directories under /usr/doc! dpkg: error processing doc-linux-html (--configure): subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1 Errors were encountered while processing: doc-linux-html E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) === seems like all those repetetive messages about not finding "libMesaGLw*.so" warrant a bit of looking-into. so i try #### dpkg -S libMesaGLw dpkg: *libMesaGLw* not found. imagine my relief at learning that there actually IS no libMesaGLw for the upgrade routine to not find. i am not going insane. i am THERE. i'm looking for a return ticket. any travel agents out there? barring that, how 'bout a rope--either with a lifesaver or noose on the end of it?