[solved/tutorial]Removing adobe-flashplugin

chaanakya · 2011-03-25 21:41:50

I'm not sure exactly why this is happening, but I am not able to remove the package adobe-flashplugin. Period. I get the following when I try:

[chiraag@chiraag-laptop] ~$  sudo aptitude purge adobe-flashplugin
[sudo] password for chiraag: 
The following packages will be REMOVED:  
  adobe-flashplugin{p} 
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B of archives. After unpacking 0 B will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] y
(Reading database ... 420921 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing adobe-flashplugin ...
update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for iceape-flashplugin.
update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for iceape-flashplugin.
dpkg: error processing adobe-flashplugin (--purge):
 subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2
configured to not write apport reports
                                      postinst called with argument `abort-remove'
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 adobe-flashplugin
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
A package failed to install.  Trying to recover:
                                         
[chiraag@chiraag-laptop] ~$

Does anyone know how to fix this?

Thanks in advance!

- Chaanakya

Last edited by chaanakya (2011-03-26 20:59:32)

johnraff · 2011-03-26 16:59:20

By some coincidence, I hit the exact same problem 3 or 4 days ago.
I don't even use "Iceape" neutral

Let's hope someone knows...

anonymous · 2011-03-26 17:40:30

If this file exists, try removing it:

/var/lib/dpkg/info/adobe-flashplugin.postinst

Alternatively, try this command:

sudo update-alternatives --remove-all iceape-flashplugin

chaanakya · 2011-03-26 20:45:23

Well now I got it out of "Inconsistent". Thanks Anonymous!! big_smile

chaanakya · 2011-03-26 20:48:26

The main problem, I think, is that there are no "alternatives" registered wih update-alternatives to replace the flash plugin. Apparently, flash is a must, as it won't remove it if it can't find some alternative...

chaanakya · 2011-03-26 20:57:29

Figured it out! It was quite easy really. Here are the steps:

1) Install an alternate flash plugin, like gnash or flashplugin-nonfree

2) This is the crucial step! If you did not see lines like

update-alternatives blah...blah

when installing the package, you will need to do this. Run

update-alternatives --install /usr/lib/[browser]/plugins/flashplugin-alternative.so [browser]-flashplugin /path/to/new/flash/plugin 10

replacing [browser] with iceape, iceweasel, mozilla, firefox, xulrunner, midbrowser, and xulrunner-addons.

3) You should now be able to uninstall adobe-flashplugin normally!

@Anonymous: Should I repost this in the Tips and Tricks section?

Last edited by chaanakya (2011-03-26 20:58:48)

anonymous · 2011-03-26 21:20:00

chaanakya wrote:

@Anonymous: Should I repost this in the Tips and Tricks section?

Go ahead.

tux_777 · 2011-07-17 01:50:19

I should have looked here before I tried to fix it on my own. I've been grappling with this for a couple of months off and on. Dumb.

I've been getting the "no alternatives" error for ages which was preventing other packages updating, unless I repeated the "apt-get upgrade" command over and over. Other packages would then update ahead of the flashplugin which would halt everything after it.

FYI - I tried the fix proposed by chaanakya before checking this forum, but it didn't work for me. I don't know why.

What did work was deleting the files in /var/lib/dpkg/info/adobe-flashplugin*.

Then when I updated, it just rolled on through without a problem.

Thanks guys. I love #! Especially now it's based directly on Debian.

pvsage · 2011-07-17 02:27:31

tux_777 wrote:

What did work was deleting the files in /var/lib/dpkg/info/adobe-flashplugin*

Excellent tip! And it turns out, the file causing all the fuss was adobe-flashplugin.prerm...get rid of that one file, and when you purge adobe-flashplugin, the other related files fall like dominoes.

octavian · 2011-07-17 18:21:43

chaanakya wrote:

...
when installing the package, you will need to do this. Run
update-alternatives --install /usr/lib/[browser]/plugins/flashplugin-alternative.so [browser]-flashplugin /path/to/new/flash/plugin 10
replacing [browser] with iceape, iceweasel, mozilla, firefox, xulrunner, midbrowser, and xulrunner-addons.
...

What if I have Chromium as my only, default browser? I'm concerned since it is not Mozilla based...

Thanks for your support.

CrunchBang Linux

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#1 2011-03-25 21:41:50

[solved/tutorial]Removing adobe-flashplugin

#2 2011-03-26 16:59:20

Re: [solved/tutorial]Removing adobe-flashplugin

#3 2011-03-26 17:40:30

Re: [solved/tutorial]Removing adobe-flashplugin

#4 2011-03-26 20:45:23

Re: [solved/tutorial]Removing adobe-flashplugin

#5 2011-03-26 20:48:26

Re: [solved/tutorial]Removing adobe-flashplugin

#6 2011-03-26 20:57:29

Re: [solved/tutorial]Removing adobe-flashplugin

#7 2011-03-26 21:20:00

Re: [solved/tutorial]Removing adobe-flashplugin

#8 2011-07-17 01:50:19

Re: [solved/tutorial]Removing adobe-flashplugin

#9 2011-07-17 02:27:31

Re: [solved/tutorial]Removing adobe-flashplugin

#10 2011-07-17 18:21:43

Re: [solved/tutorial]Removing adobe-flashplugin

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