module-init-tools post-install script error 2

Hi,

I had the same error when trying to install latest Hardy kernel to Gutsy system (using pinning).
All the following files cause this error: dpkg-divert: rename involves overwriting $foo

/usr/share/man/man5/modules.5.gz
/sbin/depmod
/usr/share/man/man8/depmod.8.gz
/sbin/insmod
/usr/share/man/man8/insmod.8.gz
/sbin/update-modules
/usr/share/man/man8/update-modules.8.gz
/sbin/modinfo
/usr/share/man/man8/modinfo.8.gz
/sbin/lsmod
/usr/share/man/man8/lsmod.8.gz
/sbin/modprobe
/usr/share/man/man8/modprobe.8.gz
/sbin/rmmod
/usr/share/man/man8/rmmod.8.gz

I got this same error while upgrading from Gutsy to Hardy with the Update Manager. Now my machine is in a complete mess, X can not start anymore, disks are not mounted, etc, etc...

I did an update of Gutsy (with Update Manager) before I did this upgrade to Hardy.

After this error I got about 30 more errors that other modules could not be installed due to dependency problems. Even 'linux-image-2.6.24.16.generic' failed (sounds pretty essential to me...)

I have attached my term.log file for further inspection.

I had a peek in there, the part where the module-init-tools went wrong was:

Setting up module-init-tools (3.3-pre11-4ubuntu5) ...
Installing new version of config file /etc/modprobe.d/arch/i386 ...
Installing new version of config file /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist ...
dpkg-divert: rename involves overwriting `/sbin/insmod' with
  different file `/sbin/insmod.modutils', not allowed
dpkg: error processing module-init-tools (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 2
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of acpid:
 acpid depends on module-init-tools (>= 3.1-rel-2ubuntu2); however:
  Package module-init-tools is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing acpid (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured

I also had a peek at /sbin/insmod* and this is what ls -l says:

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5740 2008-02-25 22:20 /sbin/insmod
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 2007-05-02 19:12 /sbin/insmod.modutils

as you can see the modutils file is empty, I am no expert so I don't know if that is a problem but I thought I mention it.

I would say this has a pretty high importance because I used the average-user upgrade tools and my machine is totally useless after the upgrade.

-Tom

This bug was fixed in the package module-init-tools - 3.7~pre7-1

---------------
module-init-tools (3.7~pre7-1) jaunty; urgency=low

  * Repackage afresh for Ubuntu based off an upstream GIT import into bzr,
    rather than the Debian package.
  * New upstream pre-release:
    - many bug fixes. LP: #99547, #292887, #303613, #284001.
    - much profiling and optimisation work.
    - depmod generates and modprobe uses binary indexes for module lists,
      giving a significant performance benefit.
    - legacy support for pre-2.6 kernels dropped.
    - module ordering support. LP: #118040, #317724.
    - updated documentation. LP: #203828, #259791.

  * /etc/modprobe.d/aliases: Dropped this file, the kernel has been able to
    export the {char,block}-major-* aliases for a while and adding them to the
    appropriate modules is a one line patch. All aliases present here have
    been added to the Ubuntu kernel if not already present. LP: #332357.
  * /etc/modprobe.d/isapnp: Dropped this file, the modalias strings in it were
    not current with the strings produced by pnpacpi in the kernel (pnpbios
    does not produce any modalias strings), and this kind of thing is better
    off done with kernel patches.
  * /etc/modprobe.d/options: Dropped this file, changes to default kernel
    options should be changed in the kernel so that they also take effect if
    the module is built-in; and also to make sure they're kept in sync with
    any changes to option names or defaults (or even module names) in the
    kernel.
  * /etc/modprobe.d/arch/*, /etc/modprobe.d/arch-aliases: Dropped the arch
    directory and the symlink into it, these aliases and/or options are
    handled by kernel patches now.

  * /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-amd76-edac: Merged with the ordinary blacklist
    file, since it only contains one line.
  * /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist{,-*}: Files renamed to end in ".conf" as
    required by new upstream version.a

  * /sbin/update-modules: This deprecated command has been removed.
  * Completely non-parallel-installable with modutils. LP: #208874.

  * All patches either merged upstream or dropped:
    - always_apply_blacklist: merged
    - blacklist-warn.diff: dropped. LP: #66423.
    - fix_8bit: merged
    - fix_sgml: merged
    - ignore_arch_directory: dropped
    - insmod-segv: merged
    - last_good_boot: dropped
    - modprobe_conf_and_directory: dropped
    - runparts_like_names: merged
    - silence_modprobe: dropped
    - use_blacklist_doc: merged

  * Note that from this version of module-init-tools, all configuration files
    in /etc/modprobe.d should end with ".conf", support for other names is
    retained with a warning but will be dropped.
  * Note that the Ubuntu -Q option to modprobe has been dropped, to silence
    modprobe use -q.

 -- Scott James Remnant <email address hidden> Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:13:55 +0000

Isn't this problem fixed yet?

Launchpad Janitor said that it was fixed in the package for Jaunty. But it was not fixed in the Hardy package!

Because Hardy Heron is the LTS, it should be fixed in the Hardy package too.

I'm not sure that changing the status is an appropriate action. But in order to draw attention to this, I had to change. If it violates the convention, please tell me that I'm wrong about this.

We do not ordinarily backport changes to released versions of Ubuntu; unfortunately module-init-tools has changed too much recently (many rewrites) to be consider for an SRU