Ubuntu
clamav package

chown: 'clamav:adm': invalid user

Bug #144163 reported by Jacob Godserv on 2007-09-23

Affects		Status	Importance	Assigned to	Milestone
	clamav (Ubuntu)	Invalid	Undecided	Unassigned

Bug Description

During an upgrade today, clamav-base and clamav-freshclam packages both crashed when they tried to install. Here's what the last half, the setting up part, said:

-------------

Setting up libclamav2 (0.90.2-0ubuntu1.4) ...

Setting up clamav-base (0.90.2-0ubuntu1.4) ...
id: clamav: No such user
chown: `clamav:clamav': invalid user
chown: `clamav:clamav': invalid user
chown: `clamav:clamav': invalid user

Setting up clamav-freshclam (0.90.2-0ubuntu1.4) ...
chown: `clamav:adm': invalid user
dpkg: error processing clamav-freshclam (--configure):
subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of clamav:
clamav depends on clamav-freshclam | clamav-data; however:
  Package clamav-freshclam is not configured yet.
  Package clamav-data is not installed.
  Package clamav-freshclam which provides clamav-data is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing clamav (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Setting up clamav-docs (0.90.2-0ubuntu1.4) ...
Setting up libt1-5 (5.1.0-2ubuntu0.7.04.1) ...

Errors were encountered while processing:
clamav-freshclam
clamav
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
A package failed to install. Trying to recover:
Setting up clamav-freshclam (0.90.2-0ubuntu1.4) ...
chown: `clamav:adm': invalid user
dpkg: error processing clamav-freshclam (--configure):
subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of clamav:
clamav depends on clamav-freshclam | clamav-data; however:
  Package clamav-freshclam is not configured yet.
  Package clamav-data is not installed.
  Package clamav-freshclam which provides clamav-data is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing clamav (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured

----------------

Everything else except for this went smoothly.

Revision history for this message

Jacob Godserv (fun2program8) wrote on 2007-09-23:

Oh, right, running Ubuntu Feisty on an i386 processor.

Revision history for this message

Scott Kitterman (kitterman) wrote on 2007-09-23:

Somehow you seem to have lost the clamav user on your system (this is not at all typical - I've installed that same update on several systems without issue.

Try this:

sudo adduser --system --no-create-home --disabled-password --disabled-login --shell /bin/false --group --home /var/lib/clamav clamav

If that works without error, then try:

sudo apt-get -f install

Let us know if that works.

Revision history for this message

Jacob Godserv (fun2program8) wrote on 2007-09-25:

Ah, of course it works. Thanks for the assistance!

Revision history for this message

Scott Kitterman (kitterman) wrote on 2007-09-25:

Would you please post a copy of your sources.list in the bug. I'm curious how this could happen.

Changed in clamav:
status:	New → Invalid

Revision history for this message

Jacob Godserv (fun2program8) wrote on 2007-09-25:

My sources.list file Edit (3.0 KiB, text/plain)

Absolutely, here it is.

Revision history for this message

Scott Kitterman (kitterman) wrote on 2007-09-25:

No obvious sources of stuff that would do that.

Any idea how your clamav user got deleted?

Revision history for this message

Jacob Godserv (fun2program8) wrote on 2007-09-26:

Not a one. I don't even touch clamav, and haven't meddled with user stuff for ages now.

I think this may be a unique and equally strange event. Until there are other reports, I myself would pass on figuring out what went wrong. Maybe a quick fix to detect if the clamav user is missing, but that's it.