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Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 03:08:59 -0700
Message-Id: <199704201008.DAA01898@bittersweet.inetarena.com>
From: <karlheg@inetarena.com>
Subject: dpkg: error message should suggest user action
To: submit@bugs.debian.org
X-Mailer: bug 2.93

Package: dpkg
Version: 1.4.0.11

 When I upgraded dpkg, this is what I saw:

507# dpkg -i dpkg_1.4.0.11_i386.deb
(Reading database ... 44551 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace dpkg 1.4.0.8 (using dpkg_1.4.0.11_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement dpkg ...
dpkg: warning - unable to delete old file `/var/lib/dpkg/alternatives': Directory not empty
dpkg: warning - unable to delete old file `/var/lib/dpkg/methods/disk': Directory not empty
dpkg: warning - unable to delete old file `/etc/alternatives': Directory not empty
Setting up dpkg (1.4.0.11) ...

 What am I supposed to do with those directories?  The error output
doesn't tell me.  At the very least, a referal to some docs would be
a good addition to that error mess.

-- System Information
Debian Release: 1.2
Kernel Version: Linux bittersweet 2.0.30 #4 Thu Apr 10 12:15:06 PDT 1997 i586 unknown

Versions of the packages dpkg depends on:
libc5	Version: 5.4.23-2
libg++27	Version: 2.7.2.1-8
ncurses3.0	Version: 1.9.9e-1