dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error, aborting: files list file for package 'nautilus-sen

[celfletch]

cat /var/lib/dpkg/info/nautilus-sendto-empathy.list
��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

[schragge]

Ouch. Looks not good. Well, let's try to make the file from scratch. Run these commands:

wget http://packages.ubuntu.com/quantal/amd64/nautilus-sendto-empathy/filelist
awk -vRS='</?pre>' NR==2 filelist|sed '$s:.*:/usr/share/doc/nautilus-sendto-empathy:' >nautilus-sendto-empathy.list
sudo cp -fv nautilus-sendto-empathy.list /var/lib/dpkg/info/
sudo dpkg -P nautilus-sendto-empathy
sudo apt-get install nautilus-sendto-empathy

[celfletch]

This is what i got (but not sure how to manually configure anything - see end comment):

   ********************************:~$ wget http://packages.ubuntu.com/quantal/amd64/nautilus-sendto-empathy/filelist 
 --2013-03-30 11:34:52--  http://packages.ubuntu.com/quantal/amd64/nautilus-sendto-empathy/filelist 
 Resolving packages.ubuntu.com (packages.ubuntu.com)... 91.189.94.203 
 Connecting to packages.ubuntu.com (packages.ubuntu.com)|91.189.94.203|:80... connected. 
 HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK 
 Length: unspecified [text/html] 
 Saving to: `filelist' 
  
     [ <=>                                   ] 4,948       --.-K/s   in 0s       
  
 2013-03-30 11:34:52 (42.9 MB/s) - `filelist' saved [4948] 
  
 ********************************:~$ awk -vRS='</?pre>' NR==2 filelist|sed '$s:.*:/usr/share/doc/nautilus-sendto-empathy:' >nautilus-sendto-empathy.list 
 ********************************:~$ sudo cp -fv nautilus-sendto-empathy.list /var/lib/dpkg/info/ 
 [sudo] password for celia:  
 `nautilus-sendto-empathy.list' -> `/var/lib/dpkg/info/nautilus-sendto-empathy.list' 
 ********************************:~$ sudo dpkg -P nautilus-sendto-empathy 
 dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error, aborting: 
  files list file for package `nautilus-sendto' contains empty filename 
 ********************************:~$ sudo apt-get install nautilus-sendto-empathyE: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'sudo dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem.  
 ********************************:~$ ^C 
 ********************************:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a

[schragge]

Could you please again post the output of

cat /var/lib/dpkg/info/nautilus-sendto-empathy.list

and also the output of

cat /var/lib/dpkg/info/nautilus-sendto-empathy.md5sums

I don't think sudo dpkg --configure -a would help here as this command doesn't change the contents of the .list file in question. But it won't hurt either.

Now, I think the approach I suggested was overengineered quite a bit. If the md5sums file is intact, the file list for the package could have been derived from it like this:

f=/var/lib/dpkg/info/nautilus-sendto-empathy
sudo sed "s:.* :/:w$f.list" $f.md5sums

[celfletch]

FIRST ONE:

uk:~$ cat /var/lib/dpkg/info/nautilus-sendto-empathy.list
/usr/lib/nautilus-sendto/plugins/libnstempathy.so
/usr/share/doc/nautilus-sendto-empathy/AUTHORS
/usr/share/doc/nautilus-sendto-empathy/NEWS.gz
/usr/share/doc/nautilus-sendto-empathy/README
/usr/share/doc/nautilus-sendto-empathy/TODO
/usr/share/doc/nautilus-sendto-empathy/changelog.Debian.gz
/usr/share/doc/nautilus-sendto-empathy/copyright
/usr/share/doc/nautilus-sendto-empathy

2ND ONE:

uk:~$ cat /var/lib/dpkg/info/nautilus-sendto-empathy.md5sums
��m
    ���g�
=����=����-�f����
�p���4��p
�����$���p��������op�l�
A��*���,�&�80��\������ ���"������,\8�&������"����0���B��-�H�=

[schragge]

Well, the .md5sums is also damaged. Let's download the package and re-install it by hand.

sudo rm -fv /var/lib/dpkg/info/nautilus-sendto-empathy.*
a=$(dpkg --print-architecture)
wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/e/empathy/nautilus-sendto-empathy_3.6.0.3-0ubuntu1_$a.deb
sudo dpkg -i nautilus-*.deb

[celfletch]

Thank you for all your help! Not sure if it worked. It seemed to, then came up with the same message.
This is what I get, after entering each line separately:

   ********************-uk:~$  
 ********************-uk:~$  
 ********************-uk:~$ sudo rm -fv /var/lib/dpkg/info/nautilus-sendto-empathy.* 
 [sudo] password for celia:  
 removed `/var/lib/dpkg/info/nautilus-sendto-empathy.list' 
 removed `/var/lib/dpkg/info/nautilus-sendto-empathy.md5sums' 
 ********************-uk:~$ a=$(dpkg --print-architecture) 
 ********************-uk:~$ wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/e/empathy/nautilus-sendto-empathy_3.6.0.3-0ubuntu1_$a.deb 
 --2013-03-30 17:33:53--  http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/e/empathy/nautilus-sendto-empathy_3.6.0.3-0ubuntu1_i386.deb 
 Resolving archive.ubuntu.com (archive.ubuntu.com)... 91.189.92.200, 91.189.92.201, 91.189.92.202, ... 
 Connecting to archive.ubuntu.com (archive.ubuntu.com)|91.189.92.200|:80... connected. 
 HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK 
 Length: 13318 (13K) [application/x-debian-package] 
 Saving to: `nautilus-sendto-empathy_3.6.0.3-0ubuntu1_i386.deb' 
  
 100%[======================================>] 13,318      --.-K/s   in 0.001s   
  
 2013-03-30 17:33:53 (13.5 MB/s) - `nautilus-sendto-empathy_3.6.0.3-0ubuntu1_i386.deb' saved [13318/13318] 
  
 ********************-uk:~$ sudo dpkg -i nautilus-*.deb 
 Selecting previously unselected package nautilus-sendto-empathy. 
 dpkg: warning: files list file for package 'nautilus-sendto-empathy' missing; assuming package has no files currently installed 
 dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error, aborting: 
  files list file for package `nautilus-sendto' contains empty filename

[celfletch]

I think I should reinstall 12.04, and leave 12.10 alone for now. It has had error messages ever since the upgrade to 12.10. I installed 12.04 from disk and will use that again, but upgraded without disk to 12.10.

I thought the message re nautilus and empathy must refer to the empathy application, which I have installed. I have tried to remove this, but it will not uninstall. I have tried installing other apps and they won't install. Before, on 12.04, I used to be able to update the software, with reminders when I logged on. Now I never see that.

I really think that the only fix is a reinstall, and it won't be 12.10!!!

Thank you so very much for all your help. I really appreciate it, but will reinstall 12.04 tomorrow - and leave 12.10 firmly alone!

C.

[schragge]

Looks like you've got more problematic packages at your hands than nautilus-sendto-empathy alone. This particular error is about nautilus-sendto. To check what other packages may need to be re-installed, please post the output of

file /var/lib/dpkg/info/*.list|grep -vw text

[celfletch]

   ********************uk:~$  
 ********************-uk:~$ file /var/lib/dpkg/info/*.list|grep -vw text/var/lib/dpkg/info/gnome-bluetooth.list:                                data 
 /var/lib/dpkg/info/libavcodec53:i386.list:                              empty 
 /var/lib/dpkg/info/libavformat53:i386.list:                             empty 
 /var/lib/dpkg/info/nautilus-sendto.list:                                data 
 ********************uk:~$