Comment 11 for bug 162574

I got the same error. Here is the log:

$ sudo apt-get install emacs
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  emacs22-bin-common emacs22-common emacs22-gtk emacsen-common
Suggested packages:
  emacs22-el
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  emacs emacs22-bin-common emacs22-common emacs22-gtk emacsen-common
0 upgraded, 5 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 21,0MB of archives.
After this operation, 65,7MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
Get:1 http://dk.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main emacsen-common 1.4.17 [17,6kB]
Get:2 http://dk.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main emacs22-common 22.2-0ubuntu2 [18,8MB]
Get:3 http://dk.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main emacs22-bin-common 22.2-0ubuntu2 [168kB]
Get:4 http://dk.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/universe emacs22-gtk 22.2-0ubuntu2 [1980kB]
Get:5 http://dk.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main emacs 22.2-0ubuntu2 [6362B]
Fetched 21,0MB in 3min37s (96,2kB/s)
Selecting previously deselected package emacsen-common.
(Reading database ... 259939 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking emacsen-common (from .../emacsen-common_1.4.17_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package emacs22-common.
Unpacking emacs22-common (from .../emacs22-common_22.2-0ubuntu2_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package emacs22-bin-common.
Unpacking emacs22-bin-common (from .../emacs22-bin-common_22.2-0ubuntu2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package emacs22-gtk.
Unpacking emacs22-gtk (from .../emacs22-gtk_22.2-0ubuntu2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package emacs.
Unpacking emacs (from .../emacs_22.2-0ubuntu2_all.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up emacsen-common (1.4.17) ...
emacsen-common: Handling install of emacsen flavor emacs

Setting up emacs22-common (22.2-0ubuntu2) ...

Setting up emacs22-bin-common (22.2-0ubuntu2) ...

Setting up emacs22-gtk (22.2-0ubuntu2) ...
Byte-compiling add-on packages, please wait... failed.

!! Byte-compilation for emacs22 failed!
!! This indicates a bug in one of the add-on packages
!! installed on your system, or a bug in Emacs itself.
!! Please file a bug report against emacs22
!! and attach the file /tmp/emacs22.HB6241
dpkg: error processing emacs22-gtk (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of emacs:
 emacs depends on emacs22-gtk | emacs22 | emacs22-nox; however:
  Package emacs22-gtk is not configured yet.
  Package emacs22 is not installed.
  Package emacs22-gtk which provides emacs22 is not configured yet.
  Package emacs22-nox is not installed.
dpkg: error processing emacs (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
                                                                                                          Errors were encountered while processing:
 emacs22-gtk
 emacs
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

The contens of the log file /tmp/emacs22.HB6241
emacs-install emacs22
install/dictionaries-common: Byte-compiling for emacsen flavour emacs22
/usr/lib/emacsen-common/packages/install/dictionaries-common: 70: emacs22: not found
emacsen-common: Handling install of emacsen flavor emacs22
emacsen-common: byte-compiling for emacs22
/usr/lib/emacsen-common/packages/install/emacsen-common: 44: emacs22: not found
emacs-install: /usr/lib/emacsen-common/packages/install/emacsen-common emacs22 failed at /usr/lib/emacsen-common/emacs-install line 28, <TSORT> line 2.

It seems like a dependency problem when installing the package "emacs".

An easy fix for the problem is to directly install the packages "emacs22" instead, it installs without problems.