Can't uninstall rhythmbox

[Chelmite]

I tried running apt-get purge rhythmbox, but get a message saying there are unmet dependencies :
You might want to run `apt-get -f install' to correct these:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
empathy: Depends: empathy-common (= 2.30.0.1-0ubuntu3) but 2.30.1-0ubuntu1 is to be installed
Recommends: nautilus-sendto-empathy but it is not going to be installed
rhythmbox-plugins: Depends: rhythmbox (= 0.12.8-0ubuntu4) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).

so I added "empathy" and "empathy-common" to the list of things for apt-get to purge.
Then it complains about rhythmbox-plugins and rhythmbox-ubuntuone-music-store (not in one run, of course), so I try to purge them too.

The following packages will be REMOVED:
empathy empathy-common* rhythmbox rhythmbox-plugins*
rhythmbox-ubuntuone-music-store
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 5 to remove and 14 not upgraded.
14 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0B/827kB of archives.
After this operation, 29.6MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
dpkg: error processing empathy (--remove):
Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should
reinstall it before attempting a removal.
Errors were encountered while processing:
empathy
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

If I try to install "empathy", it wants
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
rhythmbox-plugins: Depends: rhythmbox (= 0.12.8-0ubuntu4) but 0.12.8-0ubuntu3 is to be installed

This leads to me having to run "apt-get -f install":
% apt-get -f install |& tee /tmp/apt-get-f-install.out
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...

Correcting dependencies... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
empathy rhythmbox
Suggested packages:
python-coherence brasero rhythmbox-plugin-coherence
Recommended packages:
nautilus-sendto-empathy rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder
The following packages will be upgraded:
empathy rhythmbox
2 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 14 not upgraded.
14 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0B/3,129kB of archives.
After this operation, 0B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
(Reading database ... 421442 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace empathy 2.30.0.1-0ubuntu3 (using .../empathy_2.30.1-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement empathy ...
dpkg: warning: old post-removal script returned error exit status 245
dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/empathy_2.30.1-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb (--unpack):
subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 245
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 245
Preparing to replace gnome-settings-daemon 2.30.0-0ubuntu6 (using .../gnome-settings-daemon_2.30.0-0ubuntu6_amd64.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement gnome-settings-daemon ...
dpkg: warning: old post-removal script returned error exit status 245
dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/gnome-settings-daemon_2.30.0-0ubuntu6_amd64.deb (--unpack):
subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 245
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 245
Preparing to replace nautilus-data 1:2.30.0-0ubuntu4 (using .../nautilus-data_1%3a2.30.0-0ubuntu4_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement nautilus-data ...
dpkg: warning: old post-removal script returned error exit status 245
dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/nautilus-data_1%3a2.30.0-0ubuntu4_all.deb (--unpack):
subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 245
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 245
Preparing to replace rhythmbox 0.12.8-0ubuntu3 (using .../rhythmbox_0.12.8-0ubuntu4_amd64.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement rhythmbox ...
dpkg: warning: old post-removal script returned error exit status 245
dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/rhythmbox_0.12.8-0ubuntu4_amd64.deb (--unpack):
subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 245
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 245
Preparing to replace rhythmbox-ubuntuone-music-store 0.0.9-0ubuntu1 (using .../rhythmbox-ubuntuone-music-store_0.0.9-0ubuntu1_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement rhythmbox-ubuntuone-music-store ...
dpkg: warning: old post-removal script returned error exit status 245
dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/rhythmbox-ubuntuone-music-store_0.0.9-0ubuntu1_all.deb (--unpack):
subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 245
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 245
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Processing triggers for python-gmenu ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/desktop.en_US.utf8.cache...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme ...
Processing triggers for menu ...
Processing triggers for python-support ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/empathy_2.30.1-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/gnome-settings-daemon_2.30.0-0ubuntu6_amd64.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/nautilus-data_1%3a2.30.0-0ubuntu4_all.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/rhythmbox_0.12.8-0ubuntu4_amd64.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/rhythmbox-ubuntuone-music-store_0.0.9-0ubuntu1_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

[Snowhog]

Re: Can't uninstall rhythmbox

What ever the cause, you have unmet dependencies to rhythmbox that are preventing you from uninstalling - that's what you are being told. You are also being told a suggestion to resolve this: run `apt-get -f install' which, in a console would be:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -f install

This may result in the installation of the missing dependencies. If it does, then you can attempt to remove/purge rhythmbox.

[Chelmite]

Re: Can't uninstall rhythmbox

% apt-get -f install
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 6 not upgraded.
22 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0B/1,057kB of archives.
After this operation, 0B of additional disk space will be used.
(Reading database ...
dpkg: warning: files list file for package `rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder' missing, assuming package has no files currently installed.

dpkg: warning: files list file for package `rhythmbox-plugins' missing, assuming package has no files currently installed.

dpkg: warning: files list file for package `desktopcouch' missing, assuming package has no files currently installed.

dpkg: warning: files list file for package `desktop-base' missing, assuming package has no files currently installed.

dpkg: warning: files list file for package `empathy-common' missing, assuming package has no files currently installed.
(Reading database ... 5%(Reading database ... 10%(Reading database ... 15%(Reading database ... 20%(Reading database ... 25%(Reading database ... 30%(Reading database ... 35%(Reading database ... 40%(Reading database ... 45%(Reading database ... 50%(Reading database ... 55%(Reading database ... 60%(Reading database ... 65%(Reading database ... 70%(Reading database ... 75%(Reading database ... 80%(Reading database ... 85%(Reading database ... 90%(Reading database ... 95%(Reading database ... 100%(Reading database ... 142494 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace gnome-settings-daemon 2.30.0-0ubuntu6 (using .../gnome-settings-daemon_2.30.0-0ubuntu6_amd64.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement gnome-settings-daemon ...
dpkg: warning: old post-removal script returned error exit status 245
dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/gnome-settings-daemon_2.30.0-0ubuntu6_amd64.deb (--unpack):
subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 245
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 245
Preparing to replace nautilus-data 1:2.30.0-0ubuntu4 (using .../nautilus-data_1%3a2.30.0-0ubuntu4_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement nautilus-data ...
dpkg: warning: old post-removal script returned error exit status 245
dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/nautilus-data_1%3a2.30.0-0ubuntu4_all.deb (--unpack):
subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 245
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 245
Preparing to replace totem-common 2.30.0git20100413-0ubuntu1 (using .../totem-common_2.30.0git20100413-0ubuntu1_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement totem-common ...
dpkg: warning: old post-removal script returned error exit status 245
dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/totem-common_2.30.0git20100413-0ubuntu1_all.deb (--unpack):
subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 245
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 245
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/gnome-settings-daemon_2.30.0-0ubuntu6_amd64.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/nautilus-data_1%3a2.30.0-0ubuntu4_all.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/totem-common_2.30.0git20100413-0ubuntu1_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

[Snowhog]

Re: Can't uninstall rhythmbox

Hmm.

Was rythmbox installed via apt-get install or through a graphical package manager - KPackageKit?

You can see if a current dist-upgrade brings in things that are not installed/upgraded and so, allowing a subsequent removal.

In a console type:

sudo apt-get udpate
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get -f install

After the processes finishes, logout and reboot. then, again, in a console:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get purge rhythmbox