Linux Mint 18 (sarah) - Cinnamon installation error

Bugs and issues Linux
#1

Ok, so I have followed the instructions for installation through a repository. I also tried installing deb’s individually through the gdebi, but that failed as well with same error.

As I enter: sudo apt-get install insync, I get this response from the terminal:
Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following NEW packages will be installed: insync 0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 0 B/57.8 MB of archives. After this operation, 166 MB of additional disk space will be used. Selecting previously unselected package insync. (Reading database ... 250167 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../insync_1.3.9.36089-trusty_amd64.deb ... Unpacking insync (1.3.9.36089-trusty) ... Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ... Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.15-0ubuntu1) ... Processing triggers for shared-mime-info (1.5-2ubuntu0.1) ... Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.13.3-6ubuntu3.1) ... Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.22-1ubuntu5) ... Processing triggers for mime-support (3.59ubuntu1) ... Setting up insync (1.3.9.36089-trusty) ... dpkg: error processing package insync (--configure): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1 Errors were encountered while processing: insync E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

I found nothing yet on Linux Mint 18 in the forums, but I noticed a few posts about linux mint 17 as new versions were released…

Note 1:
I have tried to use the following two options as repositories with the same result each attempt:

Note 2:
I have sudo apt-get purge insync after each failed attempt and then tried a different repository, or a deb package, etc and have done sudo apt-get udpate before the attempted install.

#2

Incidentally, this error does not actually seem to affect the operation of the software. I assumed it had not installed correctly, however I tried running the software and it is working fine. shrug Go figure, eh?

However, it would be nice to fix this when you can as now everytime I use apt it also reports:
1 not fully installed or removed.

So, hope this bug report helps somehow… let me know if there is anything more I can report or test for you to track this down.

#3

Will be tagging our engineer @lpugoy and he will get back to you.

#4

@Micah_Knight: Apologies for the trouble. Are you using python 3 by any chance? You can confirm by running python -V.

#5

python -V
Python 2.7.12

A bit more system information that might help. This is a clean installation of Linux Mint 18. I have added the following applications on top of the base along with their dependencies and recommended packages:

FROM OFFICIAL REPOSITORIES:

  • Gimp
  • Inkscape
  • Filezilla
  • Blender
  • Specimen Font Previewer
  • Steam
  • GnuCash
  • PDF-Shuffler
  • Cheese
  • GParted

From Google:

  • Google Chrome
  • Google Music Manager

From Scribus official PPA:

  • Scribus-ng 1.52

From WINE official PPA:

  • wine 1.9.15
#6

@Micah_Knight: I see. Please try running the following as root: tail -n +8 /var/lib/dpkg/info/insync.postinst | head -n -3 | python -. This just re-runs the Insync package’s post-installation script except errors will be shown.

#7

I wish I was paying more attention to this. I have been doing some work on the laptop all day and I installed a package “exiv2”…

Anyway, at some point the insync package installation become stable in apt and it no longer displays any errors. I don’t know when this happened. I was moving my $HOME/.cache folder to a tmpfs folder today, maybe my local user cache had been corrupted or something.

Sorry, I wish I could tell you how it got fixed as I know there are few things more frustrating than a problem that you don’t know how it resolved and having a nagging worry it might pop up for someone else… I’m going to be re-doing a laptop soon with LM18, so I’ll try to recreate it and pay more attention. If it pops up again I could try to document it better.

Just so you know, the command you sent did not display anything. I ran as root the insync.postinst script itself and that is when I realized it was fixed… but I know it was fixed before this because insync-nemo wasn’t working yesterday and I realize now that at some point in the last 24 hours that got sorted out as the icons and emblems have been fully functional for all(? or most?) of today.

#8

@Micah_Knight: I see. Thanks all the same, let us know if you encounter any more issues.

#9

Hello, I’ve exactly the same error described by @Micah_Knight when trying to install Insync on Linux Mint 18 Sarah.
Here is the error:

Setting up insync (1.3.11.36106-trusty) ...
dpkg: error processing package insync (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 insync
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

The output of “tail -n +8 /var/lib/dpkg/info/insync.postinst | head -n -3 | python -” is:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 4, in <module>
NameError: name 'sys' is not defined
#10

@Pierre_Cobbaert: The postinst script has changed. Please use the following steps instead to debug it.

sudo su -
script=$(mktemp)
tail -n +5 /var/lib/dpkg/info/insync.postinst | head -n -5 | grep -v dev_null > "$script"
/usr/lib/insync/py "$script"
#11

Here is the output:

pierre@cob-pc ~ $ sudo su -
[sudo] password for pierre: 
cob-pc ~ # script=$(mktemp)
cob-pc ~ # tail -n +5 /var/lib/dpkg/info/insync.postinst | head -n -5 | grep -v dev_null > "$script"
cob-pc ~ # /usr/lib/insync/py "$script"
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 6, in <module>
  File "__main__.py", line 126, in <module>
  File "__main__py__.py", line 60, in <module>
  File "/tmp/tmp.NmWcZcvCo2", line 300, in <module>
    do_restart(user_disp, zenity, prompt, title)
  File "/tmp/tmp.NmWcZcvCo2", line 255, in do_restart
    Popen(f.name)
  File "subprocess.py", line 710, in __init__
  File "subprocess.py", line 1327, in _execute_child
OSError: [Errno 13] Permission denied
cob-pc ~ #
#12

@Pierre_Cobbaert: I see. Is your /tmp folder mounted noexec?

#13

Yes, indeed.
The line in /etc/fstab is
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,nosuid,nodev,noexec,mode=1777 0 0

#14

@Pierre_Cobbaert: That explains it. The post install script creates a script in /tmp for showing a notification that Insync has finished installing. The error is raised when Insync tries to run it. It’s not a major issue, Insync will still run but some parts of the post install script aren’t run. I’ll add it to the list.