postgresql-9.1 fails to upgrade on all Debian 7 servers

I know this isn't really a issue with VM however it is because I just want to remove postgresql-9.1 since no one uses it on any server and since its screwed up I need you guys to stop requiring that the following not be a dependant on it so I can delete that package. Right now I can't get rid of postgresql-9.1 as it stands.

procmail-wrapper
usermin-virtual-server-theme
virtualmin-base

Starting PostgreSQL 9.1 database server: main[....] Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use of uninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. Use[FAILninitialized value $logsize in numeric gt (>) at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 215. The PostgreSQL server failed to start. Please check the log output. .. failed!
failed!
invoke-rc.d: initscript postgresql, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error processing postgresql-9.1 (--configure):
subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
postgresql-9.1
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

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Comments

Joe's picture
Submitted by Joe on Sat, 02/07/2015 - 00:42 Pro Licensee

Hmm...two things:

procmail-wrapper and usermin-virtual-server-theme don't depend on postgresql.

I was sure we'd removed dependencies in virtualmin-base on Debian and Ubuntu years ago. Was this system upgraded from an older version of Debian?

We can't safely remove them now, if those dependencies remain in virtualmin-base (because apt-get tries to uninstall stuff if it was installed because of a dependency and those dependencies go away, and if somehow I failed to deploy the initial install with those dependency changes, then it's unfortunately gonna have to stay that way for the life of that OS/version). It's a regression that I didn't intend to happen...but if it did, I can't undo it, as there are too many installs that would potentially be destroyed by the change.

The only safe way forward would be to remove virtualmin-base, which should be fine. We haven't (intentionally) used it for dependency management in years, and we've pretty much stopped deploying hotfix configuration change via that method, as well (we do more of it in Virtualmin or the affected plugin modules, so that changes get brought in with the module they impact). In short: virtualmin-base is no longer needed on Debian or Ubuntu once you have a completed installation.

I found a work around... I used the dummy package creator called equivs

equivs-control will create a dummy control file

equivs-build creates the dummy.deb

Install that then you can remove the bad PostgreSQL

Well I just created a dummy package for virtualmin-base that will remove all depends and will stop those conflicts if you want it.