Upgraded from 12.04 LTS to 14.04 LTS. Now apt-get autoremove won't work

[ertrum]

I upgraded from Ubuntu 12.04 LTS to Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. When I try any apt-get operations I get an error.
(Apt-get autoremove is a small example, so that's what I give you here.)

Here's the apt-get dialog:

sudo apt-get autoremove
Reading package lists... 0%Reading package lists... 100%Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... 0%Building dependency tree... 0%Building dependency tree... 50%Building dependency tree... 50%Building dependency tree... 81%Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... 0%Reading state information... 0%Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 45 not upgraded.
3 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Setting up python-support (1.0.15) ...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/sbin/update-python-modules", line 449, in <module>
    shutil.rmtree(dir)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/shutil.py", line 232, in rmtree
    onerror(os.path.islink, path, sys.exc_info())
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/shutil.py", line 230, in rmtree
    raise OSError("Cannot call rmtree on a symbolic link")
OSError: Cannot call rmtree on a symbolic link
dpkg: error processing package python-support (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of python-matplotlib:
 python-matplotlib depends on python-support (>= 0.90.0); however:
  Package python-support is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package python-matplotlib (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of pitivi:
 pitivi depends on python-matplotlib; however:
  Package python-matplotlib is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package pitivi (--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:
 python-support
 python-matplotlib
 pitivi
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

[Bashing-om]

ertrum; Hi !

I will start this ball rolling, and see where it goes to !

Package python-support is not configured yet.

Per:

apt-cache depends python-matplotlib

Depends: python-support

What results when we try and (re-)configure python-support ?

sudo dpkg-reconfigure python-support

Bearing in mind we may see some unexpected results as there is also this advisory:

File "/usr/lib/python2.7/shutil.py", line 232, in rmtree
onerror(os.path.islink, path, sys.exc_info())
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/shutil.py", line 230, in rmtree
raise OSError("Cannot call rmtree on a symbolic link")
OSError: Cannot call rmtree on a symbolic link

as presently I do not know what generates that " Python script, ASCII text executable" file.

always;

a process of learning

[ertrum]

Little joy:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure python-support
/usr/sbin/dpkg-reconfigure: python-support is broken or not fully installed

[Bashing-om]

ertrum; Hey ;

Not to shabby;
Let's take the hint from the package manager:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall python-support

[ertrum]

This does not sound promising...


sudo apt-get install --reinstall python-support
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 29 not upgraded.
3 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
E: Internal Error, No file name for python-support:amd64

[Bashing-om]

ertrum; Well, well ;

It do seem curious !
What returns:

dpkg -l  python-support
dpkg -L  python-support
apt-cache policy  python-support

Then we look at what it will need to install ( and why the package is required to be installed !).

done got interesting

[ertrum]

This'll wait till Tuesday, what with the weekend, holiday and all

[ertrum]

Here you go:

dpkg -l  python-support
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name              Version       Architecture  Description
+++-=================-=============-=============-========================================
iF  python-support    1.0.15        all           automated rebuilding support for Python 
trumbull@allegro (4) => dpkg -L  python-support
/.
/usr
/usr/sbin
/usr/sbin/update-python-modules
/usr/bin
/usr/bin/dh_pysupport
/usr/share
/usr/share/python
/usr/share/python/runtime.d
/usr/share/python/runtime.d/python-support.rtupdate
/usr/share/python/runtime.d/python-support.rtremove
/usr/share/python/runtime.d/python-support.rtinstall
/usr/share/debhelper
/usr/share/debhelper/autoscripts
/usr/share/debhelper/autoscripts/postinst-python-support
/usr/share/debhelper/autoscripts/prerm-python-support
/usr/share/lintian
/usr/share/lintian/overrides
/usr/share/lintian/overrides/python-support
/usr/share/python-support
/usr/share/python-support/python-support.private
/usr/share/python-support/private
/usr/share/python-support/private/pysupport.py
/usr/share/python-support/private/movemodules
/usr/share/python-support/private/parseversions
/usr/share/man
/usr/share/man/man8
/usr/share/man/man8/update-python-modules.8.gz
/usr/share/man/man1
/usr/share/man/man1/dh_pysupport.1.gz
/usr/share/doc
/usr/share/doc/python-support
/usr/share/doc/python-support/README.gz
/usr/share/doc/python-support/copyright
/usr/share/doc/python-support/changelog.gz
/usr/lib
/usr/lib/pymodules
/usr/lib/python2.7
/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages
/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/python-support.pth
trumbull@allegro (5) => apt-cache policy  python-support
python-support:
  Installed: 1.0.15
  Candidate: 1.0.15
  Version table:
 *** 1.0.15 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

[Bashing-om]

ertrum: Hey;

I do not know yet what is going on, but we do know this:
1)

python-matplotlib depends on python-support (>= 0.90.0); however:
Package python-support is not configured yet.

where '>=" is greater than or equal to a old version.
2)
We have the package only hal(F) installed:

iF python-support 1.0.15

3) We know from:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?ke...ty&section=all
that the required version is:

Package python-support

trusty (14.04LTS) (python): automated rebuilding support for Python modules [universe]
1.0.15: all

SO, as other means have failed, let's try this approach - carefully - !

sudo apt-get remove --purge python-support

observe what the package manager relates
and hopefully we can fix the issue with :

sudo apt-get install python-support

Else; at least get some additional info as to what is going on that 'python-support' is being withheld.
----------------------------------
EDIT: 2nd thoughts after consideration, a safer approach:
As there is the hint of "python-support (>= 0.90.0)" consider some package is holding to that version.
Let's disable ALL 3rd party sources and then see what the package manager relates:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get -f install
sudo dpkg -C

--------------------------

makes sense to me

[ertrum]

It looks like that worked - at least apt-get autoremove now runs without complaining.
Thanks for the help!