W: APT had planned for dpkg to do more than it reported back

/var/log/apt/eipp.log.xz:
Request: EIPP 0.1
Architecture: amd64
Architectures: amd64 i386
ReInstall: base-files:amd64
Planner: internal
...
Package: base-files
Architecture: amd64
Version: 9.6ubuntu8
APT-ID: 97386
Essential: yes
Multi-Arch: foreign
Status: triggers-awaited
Pre-Depends: awk
Breaks: initscripts (<< 2.88dsf-13.3), sendfile (<< 2.1b.20080616-5.2~)
...

---

$ LANG=C sudo apt-get install -o Debug::pkgOrderList=1 -o Debug::pkgPackageManager=1 -o Debug::pkgDpkgPm=1 --reinstall base-files
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  linux-headers-4.9.0-4 linux-headers-4.9.0-4-generic linux-image-4.9.0-4-generic linux-image-extra-4.9.0-4-generic
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
CreateOrderList(): Adding Immediate flag for perl-base:amd64
  ImmediateAdd(): Adding Immediate flag to libc6:amd64 < 2.24-7ubuntu2 @ii mK > cause of PreDepends perl-base:amd64
    ImmediateAdd(): Adding Immediate flag to libgcc1:amd64 < 1:6.2.1-5ubuntu2 @ii mK > cause of Depends libc6:amd64
      ImmediateAdd(): Adding Immediate flag to gcc-6-base:amd64 < 6.2.1-5ubuntu2 @ii mK > cause of Depends libgcc1:amd64
  ImmediateAdd(): Adding Immediate flag to dpkg:amd64 < 1.18.10ubuntu1 @ii mK > cause of PreDepends perl-base:amd64
    ImmediateAdd(): Adding Immediate flag to libbz2-1.0:amd64 < 1.0.6-8build1 @ii mK > cause of PreDepends dpkg:amd64
    ImmediateAdd(): Adding Immediate flag to liblzma5:amd64 < 5.2.2-1.2 @ii mK > cause of PreDepends dpkg:amd64
    ImmediateAdd(): Adding Immediate flag to libselinux1:amd64 < 2.6-3 @ii mK > cause of PreDepends dpkg:amd64
      ImmediateAdd(): Adding Immediate flag to libpcre3:amd64 < 2:8.39-2 @ii mK > cause of Depends libselinux1:amd64
        ImmediateAdd(): Adding Immediate flag to multiarch-support:amd64 < 2.24-7ubuntu2 @ii mK > cause of PreDepends libpcre3:amd64
    ImmediateAdd(): Adding Immediate flag to zlib1g:amd64 < 1:1.2.8.dfsg-2ubuntu5 @ii mK > cause of PreDepends dpkg:amd64
    ImmediateAdd(): Adding Immediate flag to tar:amd64 < 1.29b-1.1 @ii mK > cause of PreDepends dpkg:amd64
      ImmediateAdd(): Adding Immediate flag to libacl1:amd64 < 2.2.52-3 @ii mK > cause of PreDepends tar:amd64
        ImmediateAdd(): Adding Immediate flag to libattr1:amd64 < 1:2.4.47-2 @ii mK > cause of Depends libacl1:amd64
CreateOrderList(): Adding Immediate flag for perl-base:i386
CreateOrderList(): Adding Immediate flag for init-system-helpers:amd64
CreateOrderList(): Adding Immediate flag for diffutils:amd64
CreateOrderList(): Adding Immediate flag for diffutils:i386
CreateOrderList(): Adding Immediate flag for sysvinit-utils:amd64
  ImmediateAdd(): Adding Immediate flag to util-linux:amd64 < 2.29-1ubuntu2 @ii mK > cause of Depends sysvinit-utils:amd64
    ImmediateAdd(): Adding Immediate flag to libblkid1:amd64 < 2.29-1ubuntu2 @ii mK > cause of PreDepends util-linux:amd64
      ImmediateAdd(): Adding Immediate flag to libuuid1:amd64 < 2.29-1ubuntu2 @ii mK > cause of Depends libblkid1:amd64
        ImmediateAdd(): Adding Immediate flag to passwd:amd64 < 1:4.2-3.2ubuntu1 @ii mK > cause of De...

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

I went looking through foundations team package bug reports with this same error message and only found one:

[ 10:39AM 10167 ] [ bdmurray@impulse:/misc/bug-attach ]
 $ for atlog in $(find . -name VarLogDistupgradeApttermlog.gz); do zgrep "APT had planned for dpkg to do more than it reported back" $atlog; done
[ 10:43AM 10168 ] [ bdmurray@impulse:/misc/bug-attach ]
 $ grep -r "APT had planned for dpkg to do more than it reported back" *
apt/bug-1647638/Description.txt:W: APT had planned for dpkg to do more than it reported back (4 vs 6).
debconf/bug-1696989/Description.txt:W: APT had planned for dpkg to do more than it reported back (40 vs 44).

I could replicate it on my system, I got the following message on the tests:

W: APT had planned for dpkg to do more than it reported back (0 vs 4).
   Affected packages: linux-image-4.10.0-22-generic:amd64

== Reproducer ==

$ sudo tee /etc/kernel/postinst.d/zz-fail <<EOF
#!/bin/sh -e

# Avoid running multiple times
if [ -n "$DEB_MAINT_PARAMS" ]; then
    eval set -- "$DEB_MAINT_PARAMS"
    if [ -z "$1" ] || [ "$1" != "configure" ]; then
        exit 0
    fi
fi

exit 1
EOF

$ sudo apt-get --reinstall install linux-image-$(uname -r)
$ sudo sed -i 's:exit 1:exit 0:' /etc/kernel/postinst.d/zz-fail
$ sudo apt-get upgrade

== Notes ==

To get a clearer log, run 'apt-get upgrade' before trying the reproducer, otherwise apt output might be clobbered by other package installs - the warning should still be there though, just with different numbers.

There might be additional interaction between other scripts in my /etc/kernel/postinst.d directory. I have the following installed:
$ dpkg -S $(find /etc/kernel/postinst.d/)
update-notifier-common, apt, unattended-upgrades, dkms, initramfs-tools, grub-legacy-ec2, grub-pc, sicherboot: /etc/kernel/postinst.d
initramfs-tools: /etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools
apt: /etc/kernel/postinst.d/apt-auto-removal
grub-pc: /etc/kernel/postinst.d/zz-update-grub
update-notifier-common: /etc/kernel/postinst.d/update-notifier
grub-legacy-ec2: /etc/kernel/postinst.d/x-grub-legacy-ec2
unattended-upgrades: /etc/kernel/postinst.d/unattended-upgrades
dkms: /etc/kernel/postinst.d/dkms
diversion by sicherboot from: /etc/kernel/postinst.d/dracut
diversion by sicherboot to: /etc/kernel/postinst.d/dracut.SecureBoot
sicherboot: /etc/kernel/postinst.d/dracut
dpkg-query: no path found matching pattern /etc/kernel/postinst.d/zz-update-bootctl

The last one is my own custom script.

Small correction to get the right zz-fail file (needs to escape $), please run:

$ sudo tee /etc/kernel/postinst.d/zz-fail <<EOF
#!/bin/sh -e

# Avoid running multiple times
if [ -n "\$DEB_MAINT_PARAMS" ]; then
    eval set -- "\$DEB_MAINT_PARAMS"
    if [ -z "\$1" ] || [ "\$1" != "configure" ]; then
        exit 0
    fi
fi

exit 1
EOF

That's just a minor cosmetic issue IMO. It does not affect the functionality at all. There's just a mismatch between what apt thought dpkg would do and what dpkg actually did, because dpkg took some shortcuts.

Downgrading as per my last comment.

I think this bug caused the upgrade from 7.04 to 7.10 fail on my system, telling me that the system may be in an unstable state. Really annoying.

I started observing the issue in autopkgtest of unattended-upgrades and place a workaround in LP: #1781446

bueno pero en conclusión que se puede hacer con ese error