Thanks for your answer. I have made some progress but is not done yet.
Can you quote from further back in the error message? This isn't very helpful--this could be the error from having an externally installed X11 (e.g. Apple's) or when you try to switch from Fink's XFree86-4.2.x to 4.3.x or later.
Here is the complete output of my attempt to install ghostscript:
% sudo fink install ghostscript
Information about 1722 packages read in 3 seconds.
The following package will be installed or updated:
ghostscript
The following 2 additional packages will be installed:
xfree86 xfree86-shlibs
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
dpkg -i /sw/fink/dists/stable/main/binary-darwin-powerpc/x11-system/xfree86_4.3.99.16-2_darwin-powerpc.deb /sw/fink/dists/stable/main/binary-darwin-powerpc/x11-system/xfree86-shlibs_4.3.99.16-2_darwin-powerpc.deb
(Reading database ... 10190 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking xfree86 (from .../xfree86_4.3.99.16-2_darwin-powerpc.deb) ...
WARNING: if you compile X11 applications against this XFree86 release,
you will *not* be able to run them if you decide to revert to Apple's
X11 provided with Panther.
You have an existing X11 installation in /usr/X11R6 and/or /etc/X11. This package refuses to overwrite these. Remove them, then tell Fink to install xfree86 again. (The package won't be recompiled.) If you want to keep your X11 installation, install system-xfree86 resp. system-xtools instead to make this known to Fink's package system.
Press Return to continue.
dpkg: error processing /sw/fink/dists/stable/main/binary-darwin-powerpc/x11-system/xfree86_4.3.99.16-2_darwin-powerpc.deb (--install):
subprocess pre-installation script returned error exit status 1
Unpacking xfree86-shlibs (from .../xfree86-shlibs_4.3.99.16-2_darwin-powerpc.deb) ...
You have an existing X11 installation in /usr/X11R6/lib. This package refuses to overwrite these. Remove them, then tell Fink to install xfree86-shlibs again. (The package won't be recompiled.)
Press Return to continue.
dpkg: error processing /sw/fink/dists/stable/main/binary-darwin-powerpc/x11-system/xfree86-shlibs_4.3.99.16-2_darwin-powerpc.deb (--install):
subprocess pre-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
/sw/fink/dists/stable/main/binary-darwin-powerpc/x11-system/xfree86_4.3.99.16-2_darwin-powerpc.deb
/sw/fink/dists/stable/main/binary-darwin-powerpc/x11-system/xfree86-shlibs_4.3.99.16-2_darwin-powerpc.deb
### execution of dpkg failed, exit code 1
Failed: can't batch-install packages: /sw/fink/dists/stable/main/binary-darwin-powerpc/x11-system/xfree86_4.3.99.16-2_darwin-powerpc.deb /sw/fink/dists/stable/main/binary-darwin-powerpc/x11-system/xfree86-shlibs_4.3.99.16-2_darwin-powerpc.deb
You never mentioned your OS version, your Fink version, whether you have another X11 version installed....
Mac OS X 10.3.4
Apple's X11
% fink -V Package manager version: 0.20.5 Distribution version: 0.7.0.cvs
Clearly, you don't have the system-xfree86 virtual packages. What version of Fink do you have (run "fink --version")? If you are on an old version the system-xfree86 virtual packages won't get generated.
But this does not look right:
% sudo dpkg -r --force-all system-xfree86 system-xfree86-42 system-xfree86-43
dpkg - warning: ignoring request to remove system-xfree86 which isn't installed.
dpkg - warning: ignoring request to remove system-xfree86-42 which isn't installed.
dpkg - warning: ignoring request to remove system-xfree86-43 which isn't installed.
This is entirely correct--you don't have those packages, so dpkg can't remove them.
Now fink selfupdate and update-all works. Also
% sudo fink list -i system-xfree86
Information about 1722 packages read in 2 seconds.
i system-xfree86 2:4.3-2 [placeholder for user installed x11]
i system-xfree86-dev 2:4.3-2 [placeholder for user installed x11 development tools]
i system-xfree86-shlibs 2:4.3-2 [placeholder for user installed x11 shared libraries]
looks right, but still:
% sudo dpkg -r --force-all system-xfree86 system-xfree86-42 system-xfree86-43
dpkg - warning: ignoring request to remove system-xfree86 which isn't installed.
dpkg - warning: ignoring request to remove system-xfree86-42 which isn't installed.
dpkg - warning: ignoring request to remove system-xfree86-43 which isn't installed.
What is next?
Thanks David -- A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet and in e-mail?
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