Comment 24 for bug 108189

(Eliah I get the mail by a group subscription, no need to subscribe me)

It's a wrong good idea IMO. A computer where you can't trust data stored in your filesystem is not very useful. That said I agree that dpkg could give more clue as to what can be done to recover. But then it's merely a wishlist bug.

I'd rather open a new bug requesting "dpkg --verify-database" and "dpkg --repair-database" rather than hijack this one as changing the subject means people will no longer find it. Feel free to submit it.