[ale] Debian package insanity

[Jim Popovitch]

Jason Day wrote:
> spiderman:/home/jday# dpkg --purge --force-remove-reinstreq xterm
> (Reading database ... 48227 files and directories currently installed.)
> Removing xterm ...
> dpkg: error processing xterm (--purge):
>  cannot remove file `/usr/X11R6/bin/xterm': Not a directory
> Errors were encountered while processing:
>  xterm
> spiderman:/home/jday# 
> 
> I get a similar error for dpkg --purge --pending.
> 
> I find it hard to believe that the only way to remove a broken package
> is to manually create all the files on the filesystem first, but it's
> beginning to look that way.

Does the directory /usr/X11R6/bin exist?  If not, create that directory, 
then touch /usr/X11R6/bin/term and see if that helps.

>> Get rid of aptitude.  (dpkg --purge aptitude).  Use dselect instead.
> 
> I think I just threw up in my mouth a little :-)

:-) Don't swallow.

The Debian team has said for the longest of time that dselect was the 
only 100% assured product that fully worked with dependencies, apt, etc.

-Jim P.