xargs: xargs.c:443: main: Assertion `bc_ctl.arg_max <= (131072-2048)' failed.

and now I'm no longer able to reproduce this problem in an intrepid chroot...

this always happens if xargs from hardy is used with the libc from intrepid. So you should be able to reproduce it by upgrading glibc only on an hardy system.

This hits every upgrade from hardy to intrepid.

A additional depends in libc6 on the fixed version of findutils should be enough:

Depends: libgcc1, findutils (>= 4.4.0-2ubuntu2)

Because findutils is essential it will get unpacked/configured immediately and because libc6 depends on the new version we can ensure that a new xargs is available before the new libc6 gets unpacked.

I had met this problem yesterday,and I have solved it now,The way is :
use "update-manager "order in terminal,then you can upgrade,It is so easy to deal with it!ahhhh.......

Yes, update-manager way solved the problem. Now, it passed the xargs step and upgrading.

Hi!

        I had the same problem, but i build dependencies of findutils, then i install it and then i install debconf without any problem that i had ;-)

See you!

if you do it, you solve the problem :)

Please don't assign yourself to bugs, unless you are working on fixing them in ubuntu.

I just upgraded from hardy to intreprid and I confirm that this bug is still present:

Preconfiguring packages ...
Hotway already configured to use inetd. Leave alone.
(Reading database ... 236351 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace debconf 1.5.20 (using .../debconf_1.5.22_all.deb) ...
xargs: xargs.c:443: main: Assertion `bc_ctl.arg_max <= (131072-2048)' failed.
Aborted
dpkg: warning - old pre-removal script returned error exit status 134
dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
xargs: xargs.c:443: main: Assertion `bc_ctl.arg_max <= (131072-2048)' failed.
Aborted
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/debconf_1.5.22_all.deb (--unpack):
 subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 134
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/debconf_1.5.22_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

I'll try using update-manager.

This got fixed with the upload on 20.06.08 of glibc. I did some test upgrades succesfully with the fix.

Thanks,
 mIchael

This is still happening in 11.04