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The error message is: 

 error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/debianutils_2.30_i386.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite `/usr/sbin/add-shell', which is also in package passwd

How can I solve this problem? I'm doing 

aptitude safe-upgrade

ouptput of dpkg -S add-shell:

passwd: /usr/sbin/add-shell
yas4891
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1 Answers1

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Short answer: first upgrade from unstable etch to stable etch, then from etch to lenny.

It looks like you didn't have an up-to-date etch installation, according to the discussion for bug #458452. Upgrades are supported from one stable release to the next, and between successive states of an unstable release (including its final stable state), but not always for more complex cases. To upgrade to a stable etch even though it's disappeared from Debian mirrors, get it from archive.debian.org.

If aptitude is refusing to do anything until you repair the problem manually, you can run dpkg --force-overwrite -i /var/cache/apt/archives/debianutils_2.30_i386.deb. However going via etch would be a better idea (and you wouldn't have this problem, because the debianutils package from etch declares dependencues that cause passwd to be upgraded first).

Note that when upgrading to a new release, you typically need full-upgrade rather than safe-upgrade.

Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
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  • Mispelling? full-upgrade -> dist-upgrade – lg. Aug 10 '10 at 10:28
  • I had upgraded to archive.debian.org/ etch main before calling aptitude safe-upgrade. I've been following the official upgrade guide (that's why I put the safe-upgrade first, the dist-upgrade will follow later on) – yas4891 Aug 10 '10 at 11:01
  • @yas4891: what version of `passwd` and `debianutils` do you currently have? This error shouldn't have happened if you already had a stable etch system. – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' Aug 10 '10 at 11:27
  • @lg: `full-upgrade` and `safe-upgrade` are synonyms of `dist-upgrade` and `upgrade` respectively. – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' Aug 10 '10 at 11:28
  • @Gilles: Currently running through an aptitude upgrade with the legacy (etch) servers. He's doing quite a lot at the moment. So maybe I was wrong and didn't correctly upgrade my system. Sorry for that false information. I'll keep you posted whether it worked – yas4891 Aug 10 '10 at 11:38
  • Ok... /etc/debian_version now prints 5.0.5 So this worked! Thanks a lot! – yas4891 Aug 10 '10 at 11:43