Libc6 dependency problems

Here's the original thread I started re this problem which may or may not give some helpful background;

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=347331

What version of Ubuntu are you running? Also, did you upgrade from a previous version?

Dapper Drake (6.06), I havn't upgraded from a previous version, the problem started yesterday morning when I ran the update manager from the red icon with the star that appears in the right hand corner of the panel (next to the volume control, clock, etc).

After updates failed to install i got this error messge;

"Software index is broken

It is impossible to install or remove any software. Please use the package manager "Synaptic" or run "sudo apt-get install -f" in a terminal to fix this issue at first."

When I typed in the suggested command in the terminal I got this message in the terminal;

graham@graham-laptop:~$ sudo apt-get install -f
Password:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 31 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0B of archives.
After unpacking 0B of additional disk space will be used.
Setting up locales (2.3.18.1) ...
Generating locales...
  en_AU.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_BW.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_CA.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_DK.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_GB.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_HK.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_IE.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_IN.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_NZ.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_PH.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_SG.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_US.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_ZA.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_ZW.UTF-8... up-to-date
Generation complete.
dpkg: error processing locales (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 139
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libc6:
 libc6 depends on locales (>= 2.3.11); however:
  Package locales is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing libc6 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 locales
 libc6
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
graham@graham-laptop:~$

Advice I recieved after this from the Absolute Beginners forum was to try to fix any broken packages from Synaptic (didn't work, I just got the error messge at the start of the thread, same with trying to use the Package Manager from the Applications menu). Another piece of advice was to try to re-install the libc6 files from the Debian repositries using Gdebi, that didn't work either, I got an error message that "a later version is already installed!"

P.S. I can also no longer run 'Tomboy Notes' which I downoaded some time ago from the repositories and have been using regukarly for notes, to store passwords, etc , it's icon has disappeared from the panel, and when i try to re-add it I get the message

"The panel encountered a problem while loading "OAFIID:TOMBOY APPLET". Do you want to delete the applet from your configuration?" with a 'Don't delete' 'Delete' choice, neither of which actually does anything when clicked.

I am assuming that this is related to the other issues.

could you post the contents of your /etc/apt/sources.list file here

Sorry to appear ignorant, but how do I do that?

No problem, you can use the following command from the terminal.

gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Then just copy and paste.

Thanks, paste follows;

deb-src http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper-updates main restricted
deb-src http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper-updates main restricted

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'universe'
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## universe WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu security
## team.
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper universe main restricted multiverse
deb-src http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper universe

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'backports'
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper-backports main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security universe
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security universe

#AUTOMATIX REPOS START

deb http://www.getautomatix.com/apt dapper main

deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu dapper-commercial main

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-updates universe multiverse

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security main restricted universe multiverse
#AUTOMATIX REPOS END

Well automatix has been known to cause issues in the past, I guess that is why it is not recommended. I would remove that section from your sources.list then repeat the update/upgrade process. Though to edit your sources.list you will have to do it as a super user, so you would use:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Then you will be able to save it, followed by

sudo apt-get update
and then
sudo apt-get upgrade, and see what happens.

Nope, same problem, heres what appeared in the termainal after i followed your instructions;

graham@graham-laptop:~$ sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
Password:
graham@graham-laptop:~$ sudo apt-get update
Get: 1 http://security.ubuntu.com dapper-security Release.gpg [191B]
Get: 2 http://archive.ubuntu.com dapper Release.gpg [189B]
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com dapper-security Release
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com dapper Release
Get: 3 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper Release.gpg [189B]
Get: 4 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper-updates Release.gpg [191B]
Get: 5 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper-backports Release.gpg [191B]
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper Release
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper-updates Release
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper-backports Release
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com dapper-security/main Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com dapper/universe Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper/main Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com dapper-security/restricted Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com dapper-security/main Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com dapper/main Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com dapper/restricted Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper/restricted Sources
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper/universe Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com dapper-security/restricted Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com dapper-security/universe Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com dapper-security/universe Sources
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper-updates/main Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper-updates/restricted Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper-updates/main Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com dapper/multiverse Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper-updates/restricted Sources
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper-backports/main Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper-backports/restricted Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper-backports/universe Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper-backports/multiverse Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper-backports/main Sources
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper-backports/restricted Sources
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper-backports/universe Sources
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com dapper-backports/multiverse Sources
Fetched 5B in 0s (6B/s)
Reading package lists... Done
graham@graham-laptop:~$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
  firefox firefox-gnome-support language-pack-en language-pack-gnome-en
  libgeoip1 libgtop2-7 libkrb53 libnspr4 libnss3 libpoppler1 libpoppler1-glib
  libsoup2.2-8 openoffice.org openoffice.org-base openoffice.org-calc
  openoffice.org-common openoffice.org-core openoffice.org-draw
  openoffice.org-evolution openoffice.org-gnome openoffice.org-gtk
  openoffice.org-impress openoffice.org-java-common openoffice.org-l10n-en-us
  openoffice.org-math openoffice.org-writer poppler-utils python-uno
  ttf-opensymbol xserver-xorg-core
30 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0B/90.8MB of archives.
After unpacking 2261kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Setting up locales (2.3.18.1) ...
Generating locales...
  en_AU.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_BW.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_CA.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_DK.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_GB.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_HK.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_IE.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_IN.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_NZ.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_PH.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_SG.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_US.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_ZA.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_ZW.UTF-8... up-to-date
Generation complete.
dpkg: error processing locales (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 139
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libc6:
 libc6 depends on locales (>= 2.3.11); however:
  Package locales is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing libc6 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 locales
 libc6
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
graham@graham-laptop:~$

what does:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

give you?

graham@graham-laptop:~$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Password:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Calculating upgrade...Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
  firefox firefox-gnome-support language-pack-en language-pack-gnome-en
  libgeoip1 libgtop2-7 libkrb53 libnspr4 libnss3 libpoppler1 libpoppler1-glib
  libsoup2.2-8 openoffice.org openoffice.org-base openoffice.org-calc
  openoffice.org-common openoffice.org-core openoffice.org-draw
  openoffice.org-evolution openoffice.org-gnome openoffice.org-gtk
  openoffice.org-impress openoffice.org-java-common openoffice.org-l10n-en-us
  openoffice.org-math openoffice.org-writer poppler-utils python-uno
  ttf-opensymbol xserver-xorg-core
30 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0B/90.8MB of archives.
After unpacking 2261kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Setting up locales (2.3.18.1) ...
Generating locales...
  en_AU.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_BW.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_CA.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_DK.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_GB.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_HK.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_IE.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_IN.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_NZ.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_PH.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_SG.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_US.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_ZA.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_ZW.UTF-8... up-to-date
Generation complete.
dpkg: error processing locales (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 139
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libc6:
 libc6 depends on locales (>= 2.3.11); however:
  Package locales is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing libc6 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 locales
 libc6
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
graham@graham-laptop:~$

Hello,
I assume that the problem is in the locale settings. That's what the error message says. The man page to dpkg says (man dpkg): dpkg --configure package, where package is, in your case, the locale package. But I'm not really sure how this works, perhaps someone of the other support people can help.
For me the libc6 error is the consequence from the locale error. Therefore the locale package(s) must be reconfigured or perhaps only that what you are want to use.
I hope that points in the right direction.

Mr Canis

Thanks for your response Mr Canis, I assume you mean I need to type something in the terminal that will properly configure the locale setting? Unfortunately I really havn't got an understanding of how to type commands into he terminal as yet and will need somebody to tell me exactly what to type

Try,

sudo dpkg --configure -a

Best Regards,

Williamts99

Still no luck;

graham@graham-laptop:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
Password:
Setting up locales (2.3.18.1) ...
Generating locales...
  en_AU.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_BW.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_CA.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_DK.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_GB.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_HK.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_IE.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_IN.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_NZ.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_PH.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_SG.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_US.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_ZA.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_ZW.UTF-8... up-to-date
Generation complete.
dpkg: error processing locales (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 139
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libc6:
 libc6 depends on locales (>= 2.3.11); however:
  Package locales is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing libc6 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 locales
 libc6
graham@graham-laptop:~$

Hello quercus,
that doesn't look good.
Type the following:

dpkg-query -s locales

That prints informations about the package locales. One line begins with Maintainer and follows with a name and email address. I think you should try contact this person, because the error "...exit status 139" is a error from a script that is called from dpkg.
If you have a closer look to the output you will see a line starting with "Replaces:" and you will see that the package locales will replaces libc6.
Try to contact the maintainer and ask him whether he could have a look on your request. I think he is the person who should know what does "...exit status 139" mean.
Sorry, that I can't give you more help, that is because I have 6.10 edgy installed and therefore other versions.
It would be nice you would post the solution, if you one have.~;)

Mr Canis

OK, this is what was outputted - I have sent an email to martin pitt asking him to have a look at this thread. Thanks again for all your help so far!

graham@graham-laptop:~$ dpkg-query -s locales
Package: locales
Status: install ok half-configured
Priority: important
Section: base
Installed-Size: 12740
Maintainer: Martin Pitt <email address hidden>
Architecture: all
Source: langpack-locales
Version: 2.3.18.1
Config-Version: 2.3.18
Replaces: belocs-locale-data, base-config, libc6 (<< 2.3.6-0ubuntu6), libc6.1 (<< 2.3.6-0ubuntu6)
Depends: belocs-locales-bin (>= 2.3.5-5ubuntu1)
Conflicts: belocs-locale-data, base-config
Conffiles:
 /etc/locale.alias 6fc3625723b82f5898c73ff612b583fb
 /etc/belocs/iso-639.def 4b0ab7a286e003dad8453790fa14924d
Description: common files for locale support
 This package provides support for localized environments (locales).
 It installs character and transliteration maps, provides the POSIX
 locale definition and provides common scripts for language pack
 handling.
 .
 The actual locale definitions are not part of this package, these are
 shipped in the language packs and are installed and removed
 automatically.

Hello quercus,
there is a log file ( /var/log/dpkg.log ) have a look, perhaps there are
some answers what are happens. If you can, please post the entries from
these days where you are tried to install.

Mr Canis

___________________________________________________________
All New Yahoo! Mail � Tired of Vi@gr@! come-ons? Let our SpamGuard protect you. http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html

2007-01-27 09:15:16 upgrade locales 2.3.18 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 09:15:16 status half-configured locales 2.3.18
2007-01-27 09:15:16 status unpacked locales 2.3.18
2007-01-27 09:15:16 status half-installed locales 2.3.18
2007-01-27 09:15:19 status half-installed locales 2.3.18
2007-01-27 09:15:20 status unpacked locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 09:15:20 status unpacked locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 09:15:21 upgrade libc6 2.3.6-0ubuntu20 2.3.6-0ubuntu20.2
2007-01-27 09:15:21 status half-configured libc6 2.3.6-0ubuntu20
2007-01-27 09:15:21 status unpacked libc6 2.3.6-0ubuntu20
2007-01-27 09:15:21 status half-installed libc6 2.3.6-0ubuntu20
2007-01-27 09:15:23 status half-installed libc6 2.3.6-0ubuntu20
2007-01-27 09:15:24 status unpacked libc6 2.3.6-0ubuntu20.2
2007-01-27 09:15:24 status unpacked libc6 2.3.6-0ubuntu20.2
2007-01-27 09:15:25 status unpacked locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 09:15:25 status unpacked locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 09:15:25 status unpacked locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 09:15:25 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 09:15:28 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 09:17:11 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 09:18:45 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 09:18:47 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 10:26:22 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 10:26:25 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 10:37:41 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 10:37:43 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 10:40:47 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 10:40:50 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 10:43:18 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 10:43:20 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 10:48:23 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 10:48:25 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 10:55:44 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 11:21:29 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 11:21:31 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 12:00:15 status installed ubuntu-base 0.120
2007-01-27 12:00:26 remove ubuntu-base 0.120 0.120
2007-01-27 12:00:26 status half-configured ubuntu-base 0.120
2007-01-27 12:00:26 status half-installed ubuntu-base 0.120
2007-01-27 12:00:26 status config-files ubuntu-base 0.120
2007-01-27 12:00:26 status config-files ubuntu-base 0.120
2007-01-27 12:00:26 status config-files ubuntu-base 0.120
2007-01-27 12:00:26 status not-installed ubuntu-base <none>
2007-01-27 12:00:26 status installed ubuntu-minimal 0.120
2007-01-27 12:00:26 remove ubuntu-minimal 0.120 0.120
2007-01-27 12:00:26 status half-configured ubuntu-minimal 0.120
2007-01-27 12:00:26 status half-installed ubuntu-minimal 0.120
2007-01-27 12:00:26 status config-files ubuntu-minimal 0.120
2007-01-27 12:00:26 status config-files ubuntu-minimal 0.120
2007-01-27 12:00:26 status config-files ubuntu-minimal 0.120
2007-01-27 12:00:26 status not-installed ubuntu-minimal <none>
2007-01-27 12:00:26 status installed libc6-i686 2.3.6-0ubuntu20
2007-01-27 12:00:26 remove libc6-i686 2.3.6-0ubuntu20 2.3.6-0ubuntu20
2007-01-27 12:00:26 status half-configured libc6-i686 2.3.6-0ubuntu20
2007-01-27 12:00:26 status half-installed libc6-i686 2.3.6-0ubuntu20
2007-01-27 12:00:33 status config-files libc6-i686 2.3.6-0ubuntu20
2007-01-27 12:00:33 status config-files libc6-i686 2.3.6-0ubuntu20
2007-01-27 12:00:34 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 12:00:36 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 12:03:48 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 12:03:51 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 12:14:46 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 12:14:49 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 12:17:08 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 12:17:10 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 12:34:10 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 12:34:13 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 12:36:58 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 13:03:36 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 13:03:39 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 13:04:07 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 13:04:09 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 14:08:13 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 14:08:16 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 14:34:31 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 14:34:33 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 15:53:11 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 16:02:14 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 16:02:16 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 16:27:56 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 16:27:58 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 18:53:43 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 18:59:39 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 18:59:41 status half-configured locales 2.3.18.1

Above please find pasted entries from the log file as suggested (sorry its a seperate post)

Hello quercus,
in the two following lines you can see that dpkg wants update from 2.3.18 2.3.18.1 but the old version 2.3.18 isn't configured and that obviously wasn't before the upgrade a problem, but now as you tried to upgrade it was a problem. So much for now.

2007-01-27 09:15:16 upgrade locales 2.3.18 2.3.18.1
2007-01-27 09:15:16 status half-configured locales 2.3.18

Know I must myself have a look in the depth of dpkg, because I think it must be a way to rollback the last upgrade or something like that. Perhaps a other support people knows the depth of dpkg. Perhaps only your dpkg database is damaged.

Coming back soon, with or without a solution. ~;)
Mr Canis

Hello quercus,
I found this page https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LivecdRecovery at the end on this page describes williamts99 how you can recover from a failed update / upgrade. williamts99 what do you think could that help?

Obviously there is now way to do a rollback. I only found a parameter for apt-get to set a version but that implicates that the old version is in the repositories. The Parameter is -t you can read it with man apt-get.

If that all don't help, I think you should backup your data and reinstall. And than doesn't use Automatix. ~:(

Mr Canis

I would say that something is wrong with your timezone settings. Can you please copy&paste the output of

ls -l /etc/timezone
cat /etc/timezone
sudo sh -ex /var/lib/dpkg/info/locales.postinst configure

Thanks!

graham@graham-laptop:~$ ls -l /etc/timezone
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 14 2006-10-21 21:21 /etc/timezone
graham@graham-laptop:~$ cat /etc/timezone
Europe/London
graham@graham-laptop:~$ sudo sh -ex /var/lib/dpkg/info/locales.postinst configure
Password:
+ type=configure
+ preversion=
+ '[' configure = configure ']'
+ /usr/sbin/locale-gen
Generating locales...
  en_AU.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_BW.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_CA.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_DK.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_GB.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_HK.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_IE.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_IN.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_NZ.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_PH.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_SG.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_US.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_ZA.UTF-8... up-to-date
  en_ZW.UTF-8... up-to-date
Generation complete.
+ '[' configure = configure ']'
+ '[' -f /etc/timezone.save ']'
+ '[' -f /etc/timezone ']'
++ cat /etc/timezone
+ timezone=Europe/London
+ '[' Europe/London = Factory ']'
+ '[' -f /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/London ']'
+ '[' Europe/London '!=' Factory ']'
+ rm -f /etc/localtime
+ ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/London /etc/localtime
+ zone_banner
++ LC_ALL=C
++ TZ=UTC0
++ date
+ TZBase=
graham@graham-laptop:~$

What is the output of

  LC_ALL=C TZ=UTC0 date; echo $?

? It works fine for me, I get

$ LC_ALL=C TZ=UTC0 date; echo $?
Wed Jan 31 07:11:36 UTC 2007
0

I also tried with setting Europe/London as my timezone. But I guess it fails for you for some reason. If the last number is not '0', what happens if you just do

  date; echo $?

?

graham@graham-laptop:~$ LC_ALL=C TZ=UTC0 date; echo $?
Segmentation fault
139
graham@graham-laptop:~$ date; echo $?
Segmentation fault
139
graham@graham-laptop:~$

A-haa! Now that we know how to reproduce the crash easily, you might first try to repair your packaging system:

 sudo sed -i '1 s/sh -e/sh/' /var/lib/dpkg/info/locales.postinst
 sudo dpkg --configure -a

Does that help? Does date still crash afterwards? If so, then it seems that something in your locales is broken, and I'd appreciate getting a backtrace:

  gdb --batch --ex run --ex 'bt full' date

Thank you!

Great to hear! No, if date does not segfault (crash) any more, then there is no backtrace.

The problem seems to have been a kind of a deadlock: date crashed because time zones were not configured properly, and timezones could not be configured because date crashed and ruined the package maintainer script run. This does not normally happen, I do not have an idea what caused this.

I really do not know whether some Automatix packages were responsible for this. It does not seem that likely, but I never looked at Automatix, I just heard many reports of it screwing up something.

Thanks for your patience!

Thought I'd mention that this problem came back again... The little red star 'updates available' icon hadn't appeared for ages, not since my earlier problems in fact, so I checked with update manager from the administration menu to see if any updates were in act available, first of all it said my system was up to date, but when I clicked the 'check' button it said there were 47 updates available. I downloaded these, but when it came to install I got the libc6/locales error message again...

So I checked back to this forum and used the solution above which worked again, but seems strange...