[SOLVED] “subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit status 2″ error

August4

Recently, I encountered a package management related error in Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope 64bit.

The package was python-beagle and the error was: “E: python-beagle: subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit status 2″ and details showed:
“dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute pre-removal script: Exec format error
dpkg: error processing python-beagle (–remove):
subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit status 2
dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute post-installation script: Exec format error
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 2
Errors were encountered while processing:
python-beagle
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)”

I managed to fix it. Read on for how I did it.

Precaution: The process can break your system if not followed as mentioned (you may get into problems even if you follow the process). Please proceed at your own risk.

First, please try the following in terminal:

sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude -f install

If it does not work, then you may want to try:

sudo dpkg --force all --remove


If both of them still produce similar errors, then continue. If the above commands fix your problem, you should not continue.

1. Close Synaptic or any package manager. Wait for or cancel any updates or install\uninstall.
2. Make Backups of current /var/lib/dpkg/status file. Just copy and paste to your home directory or Desktop.
3. Alt+F2 and launch type in gksu gedit /var/lib/dpkg/status and run it. Gedit will be launched with a text file open.
4. Now, search for the exact name of the package with problems and find it.
5. In my case, it I found the entry for the package python-beagle:

Package: python-beagle
Status: deinstall ok half-configured
Priority: optional
Section: python
Installed-Size: 168
Maintainer: Ubuntu Core Developers
Architecture: amd64
Source: libbeagle
Version: 0.3.5-2build1
Replaces: python2.4-beagle (<< 0.2.7-1)
Provides: python2.6-beagle
Depends: python (<< 2.7), python (>= 2.6), python-support (>= 0.7.1), libbeagle1 (>= 0.3.5), libc6 (>= 2.4), python-gtk2
Conflicts: python2.4-beagle (<< 0.2.7-1)
Description: Python bindings for beagle
Allow accessing Beagle daemon and peforming searches using Python.

6. Select and delete that information and that much information only, i.e. you will remove “Package: culprit-package-name” to “Description: culprit package description”. Remmber, “culprit package description” may be multiline and you will need to remove all the lines till a blank line. Don’t forget to leave a line blank between the package description above and the one below. To clarify things out, I have placed the images here, pelase have a look. Here the package to be removed is python-beagle.

Before Deletion

Selection

After

7. Launch Synaptic (or any package manager) and then search for package. You will see the package as not installed. Mark it for installation and install it. If you start to see the same error, restart the same process from Step 1 but the next time, stop at step 6.
8. Now, you should be able to remove it if you no longer want the package. If you can’t, restart the same process from Step 1 but the next time, stop at step 6.

Hope this was helpful. Please post in comments.

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posted under Linux

“[SOLVED] “subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit status 2″ error”

1. On September 8th, 2009 at 9:12 am zi kang Says:

   Thanks a lot for your sharing, it saved me a hour encountering a similar problem in Ubuntu.

2. On October 12th, 2009 at 6:44 pm Weevil Says:

   Got the fakeroot package permanently half-installed when my laptop battery ran out during upgrade. Thanks to your blogpost it finally got fixed!

3. On October 14th, 2009 at 5:03 am Odzangba Says:

   Thanks for putting this out there. It’s a shame dpkg doesn’t have a more graceful way of showing its displeasure.

4. On October 14th, 2009 at 6:50 am How to Fix “subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit status 2″ Error « Odzangba Kafui Dake’s Blog Says:

   [...] script returned error exit status 2″ Error What I really should have done was to link to khattam’s article because he did a pretty good job of describing the solution to this error but for my own archives, [...]

5. On October 14th, 2009 at 7:29 pm name Says:

   wow, you rock dude.
   thanks

6. On October 17th, 2009 at 12:05 am ubu-solved Says:

   Thanks, it help me very much. After 6-th step I downloaded the jaunty package – installed – and after all uninstalled. It worked!

7. On October 23rd, 2009 at 8:30 pm Eleven Says:

   thx alots .. this post is really helpful for me .. again .. thanks so much

8. On October 28th, 2009 at 4:17 am che Says:

   Thanks dude,
   searched hours for a damned solution and found your blog which helped. In my case it was the vim-gnome package due to a hardware crash during the installation.

9. On November 11th, 2009 at 4:30 pm Stefano Rivera Says:

   Eek. That’s rather an over-the-top appreach. Better solution is to edit /var/lib/dpkg/info/packagename.prerm and comment out the offending lines (you can see what that script does, and do things by hand, if it’s failing)

10. On December 8th, 2009 at 3:40 pm ethnopunk Says:

    In my case it was a lifesaver. Difference between having a slightl broken system and a totally broken system

    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1348866

    Removing the -e flag in the prerm didn’t work.It keeps returning because of policy on the system. The hack is not ideal. A solution would be better.

11. On December 30th, 2009 at 1:38 am demon_edge Says:

    Thanks.. This help my problems.
    I’m from Indonesia, sorry I can’t speak English very well

12. On January 5th, 2010 at 12:50 am Manuel Says:

    Thanks for sharing it!!

13. On January 9th, 2010 at 12:02 am Ed Welbon Says:

    Thanks for the tip. I fixed the problem in vim with following change command

    :%s/Package:.*\nStatus:.*half-.*\(\n$\)*//

    The trick is to treat the file like one long string and find problematic package paragraph by looking for the portion of the file that contains the string “half-” where the string is preceded by Package: and followed eventually by a blank line. Having found that portion, replace it with nothing. It harder to explain than do A good way to be sure that it works is compare the changed file with a backup of the original file using vim “split diff with …” under the edit tab. I’ve been using vi/vim for 15 years and it still amazes me. It’s much better than beer

14. On January 9th, 2010 at 8:53 am avanindra Says:

    Thanks a lot. You saved my lots of efforts.

15. On January 23rd, 2010 at 2:09 am Danish Says:

    Hi this is one page that i will save for eternity.. Thank you very much. It was really irritating to see the errors everytime i installed anything.

16. On January 28th, 2010 at 7:58 am [SOLVED] Unable to get Exclusive Lock Problem While Launching Synaptic, /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11 Resource temporarily unavailable) Error | The _khAttAm_ blog Says:

    [...] Related posts:[SOLVED] “subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit status 2″ error [...]