Bug#829742: dpkg-maintscript-helper fails to convert directory to symlink on upgrade

[Tobias Hansen]

Source: mpfi
Version: 1.5.1+ds-4
Severity: grave
Justification: prevents package upgrade

Hi Jerome,

When upgrading from version 1.5.1+ds-2, I get the following error:

Preparing to unpack .../libmpfi-dev_1.5.1+ds-4_amd64.deb ...
dpkg-query: no packages found matching libmpfi-dev:amd64
dpkg-query: package 'libmpfi-dev' is not installed
Use dpkg --info (= dpkg-deb --info) to examine archive files,
and dpkg --contents (= dpkg-deb --contents) to list their contents.
dpkg-maintscript-helper: error: directory '/usr/share/doc/libmpfi-dev'
contains files not owned by package libmpfi-dev:amd64, cannot switch to
symlink
dpkg: error processing archive
/var/cache/apt/archives/libmpfi-dev_1.5.1+ds-4_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/libmpfi-dev_1.5.1+ds-4_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

The directory contains the following files

ls /usr/share/doc/libmpfi-dev
changelog.Debian.gz  changelog.gz  copyright

Best,
Tobias