Samba-common-bin installed post-installation script fails with error 2

Setting up samba-common-bin (2:3.4.0-3ubuntu5.4) ...
update-alternatives: error: /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/nmblookup corrupt: invalid status
dpkg: error processing samba-common-bin (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2

Looks like something/someone broke the nmblookup alternatives setting. I'd recommend purging the samba (including samba-common) packages, clearing /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/nmblookup and try to reinstall samba.

On Thu, 2010-02-25 at 09:02 +0000, Thierry Carrez wrote:
> Setting up samba-common-bin (2:3.4.0-3ubuntu5.4) ...
> update-alternatives: error: /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/nmblookup corrupt: invalid status
> dpkg: error processing samba-common-bin (--configure):
> subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2
>
> Looks like something/someone broke the nmblookup alternatives setting.
> I'd recommend purging the samba (including samba-common) packages,
> clearing /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/nmblookup and try to reinstall
> samba.
>
> ** Changed in: samba (Ubuntu)
> Importance: Undecided => Low
>
> ** Changed in: samba (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Incomplete
>

Thanks for the quick response.

Following your recommendations, I purged the packages using apt-get
purge, then renamed /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/nmblookup.

Execution of: [sudo dpkg --configure -a] resulted in:

Setting up samba-common-bin (2:3.4.0-3ubuntu5.5) ...
update-alternatives: error: /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/net corrupt:
invalid status
dpkg: error processing samba-common-bin (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit
status 2
Errors were encountered while processing:
 samba-common-bin
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

I renamed /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/net.

Execution of: [sudo dpkg --configure -a] resulted in:

Setting up samba-common-bin (2:3.4.0-3ubuntu5.5) ...
Use of uninitialized value in string ne at /usr/sbin/update-alternatives
line 260.
update-alternatives: warning: /etc/alternatives/net has been changed
(manually or by a script). Switching to manual updates only.
update-alternatives: error: /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/testparm corrupt:
invalid status
dpkg: error processing samba-common-bin (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit
status 2
Errors were encountered while processing:
 samba-common-bin

I renamed /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/testparm.

Execution of: [sudo dpkg --configure -a] resulted in:

Setting up samba-common-bin (2:3.4.0-3ubuntu5.5) ...
Use of uninitialized value in string ne at /usr/sbin/update-alternatives
line 260.
update-alternatives: warning: /etc/alternatives/testparm has been
changed (manually or by a script). Switching to manual updates only.

However, at that point, it appeared as though samba-common-bin was able
to configure correctly. I will monitor for functionality and report any
additional errors.

Yes, I don't exactly know whart broke your alternatives here, which created the problem in the first place. Anything specific you might have done, like trying out samba4 packages ?

Closing as invalid, please reopen if you can reproduce in normal usage.

On Fri, 2010-02-26 at 07:41 +0000, Thierry Carrez wrote:
> Yes, I don't exactly know whart broke your alternatives here, which
> created the problem in the first place. Anything specific you might have
> done, like trying out samba4 packages ?

Nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing I can think of related to
samba. I'm running on some older hardware, and since 8.04, I have
upgraded rather than perform clean installs. That's the only thing that
occurs to me right now.

<shrug> Thanks for the assist, though. Much appreciated.

I had an identical problem on a Karmic laptop. The system is prone to overheating and shut down automatically during an update (likely while installing a samba update). I got the same errors.

What I did to solve the problem was to copy the following files from a working Ubuntu system (I used my Karmic server):

/var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/nmblookup
./net
./testparm

(I figured this out by fixing one, then trying to aptitude safe-upgrade, and following the next complaint :) ).

Once I replaced all three, samba properly installed and the problem disappeared.

The files contained text garbage unrelated to the original file contents. It was some sort of a disk corruption issue, likely caused by the abrupt powerdown, but the fix was a little unintuitive.