@pitti, This is probably not useful, since I just ran aptitude as soon as the upgrade to 16 completed with errors, and had it fix the broken packages (with no problems). So systemd seems to be installed fine for me too, now. Just in case there is some clue, though, here is the current output from the two debug commands you mentioned:
steven@goliath:~$ sudo sed -i '2 s/^.*/set -x/' /var/lib/dpkg/info/systemd.prerm steven@goliath:~$ sudo apt-get install --reinstall systemd Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 0 B/3,643 kB of archives. After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used. (Reading database ... 186822 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../systemd_229-4ubuntu4_amd64.deb ... + set -e + [ upgrade = remove ] + dpkg-maintscript-helper rm_conffile /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/50-systemd-user.sh 228-3~ -- upgrade 229-4ubuntu4 + dpkg-maintscript-helper rm_conffile /etc/dbus-1/system.d/org.freedesktop.machine1.conf 228-5~ -- upgrade 229-4ubuntu4 + dpkg-maintscript-helper mv_conffile /etc/systemd/systemd-journald.conf /etc/systemd/journald.conf 204-1~ -- upgrade 229-4ubuntu4 + dpkg-maintscript-helper mv_conffile /etc/systemd/systemd-logind.conf /etc/systemd/logind.conf 204-1~ -- upgrade 229-4ubuntu4 + dpkg-maintscript-helper rm_conffile /etc/bash_completion.d/systemd-bash-completion.sh 204-1~ -- upgrade 229-4ubuntu4 + dpkg-maintscript-helper rm_conffile /etc/bash_completion.d/systemctl-bash-completion.sh 204-1~ -- upgrade 229-4ubuntu4 Unpacking systemd (229-4ubuntu4) over (229-4ubuntu4) ... Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-19) ... Processing triggers for dbus (1.10.6-1ubuntu3) ... Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ... Setting up systemd (229-4ubuntu4) ... addgroup: The group `systemd-journal' already exists as a system group. Exiting. steven@goliath:~$ -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Touch seeded packages, which is subscribed to systemd in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1570310 Title: package systemd 229-4ubuntu4 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2 Status in systemd package in Ubuntu: Incomplete Bug description: I was upgrading from 15.10 to 16.04 when this error occur. ProblemType: Package DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04 Package: systemd 229-4ubuntu4 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-18.34-generic 4.4.6 Uname: Linux 4.4.0-18-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu1 Architecture: amd64 Date: Wed Apr 13 21:41:53 2016 DpkgTerminalLog: Preparing to unpack .../systemd_229-4ubuntu4_amd64.deb ... De-configuring udev (225-1ubuntu9.1) ... dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/systemd_229-4ubuntu4_amd64.deb (--unpack): subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2 DuplicateSignature: De-configuring udev (225-1ubuntu9.1) ... dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/systemd_229-4ubuntu4_amd64.deb (--unpack): subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2 ErrorMessage: subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2 InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-01-08 (96 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 15.04 "Vivid Vervet" - Release amd64 (20150422) Lsusb: Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0781:5583 SanDisk Corp. Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04f2:b483 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd Bus 001 Device 002: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub MachineType: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. X455LJ ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-18-generic root=UUID=70fa96eb-e0d8-4e65-b049-9cb150759b40 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7 RelatedPackageVersions: dpkg 1.18.4ubuntu1 apt 1.2.10 SourcePackage: systemd SystemdDelta: [EXTENDED] /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service → /lib/systemd/system/display-manager.service.d/xdiagnose.conf [EXTENDED] /lib/systemd/system/rc-local.service → /lib/systemd/system/rc-local.service.d/debian.conf [EXTENDED] /lib/systemd/system/systemd-timesyncd.service → /lib/systemd/system/systemd-timesyncd.service.d/disable-with-time-daemon.conf 3 overridden configuration files found. Title: package systemd 229-4ubuntu4 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2 UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2016-04-13 (0 days ago) dmi.bios.date: 04/22/2015 dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc. dmi.bios.version: X455LJ.203 dmi.board.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567 dmi.board.name: X455LJ dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. dmi.board.version: 1.0 dmi.chassis.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567 dmi.chassis.type: 10 dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. dmi.chassis.version: 1.0 dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrX455LJ.203:bd04/22/2015:svnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:pnX455LJ:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:rnX455LJ:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:ct10:cvr1.0: dmi.product.name: X455LJ dmi.product.version: 1.0 dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. 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