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Micronaut

Member

Registered: 2019-07-04

Posts: 228  

Persistently broken package

My gaming install has a broken package related to the nVidia proprietary drivers. Every time I run apt/aptitude to install something, it tries to fix the problem package but cannot. The same string of errors occurs every time:

Setting up nvidia-persistenced (418.56-1) ...
Starting NVIDIA Persistence Daemon
nvidia-persistenced failed to initialize. Check syslog for more details.
invoke-rc.d: initscript nvidia-persistenced, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error processing package nvidia-persistenced (--configure):
 installed nvidia-persistenced package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1

Is this possibly related to another thread on an apparent mistake in the nVidia driver packages?

Altoid

Member

Registered: 2017-05-07

Posts: 1,581  

Re: Persistently broken package

Hello:

... same string of errors occurs every time:

I had what seems to be the same problem.
HevyDevy worked it out here:

https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?pid=24685#p24685

I followed his instructions, see a step by step here:

https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?pid=24694#p24694

Check the thread from that post onwards, there is some more useful information and at least one other example.

Best,

A.

Last edited by Altoid (2022-01-15 11:29:15)

Micronaut

Member

Registered: 2019-07-04

Posts: 228  

Re: Persistently broken package

Looks kind of involved... but if it works it's better than watching that error for as long as the install lasts.

Is this problem specific to Devuan? Or is it found in Debian also? Could this problem be referred up the chain to Debian package management? It looks like something in the proprietary drivers installation needs to be revised.

Altoid

Member

Registered: 2017-05-07

Posts: 1,581  

Re: Persistently broken package

Hello:

... kind of involved...
... but if it works ...

It worked for me.
Which is why I posted the process with the terminal output so it would be detailed and easy to follow for anyone with the same problem.

You may want to read the posts after mine for further info.
Some steps I took may have been redundant.

... specific to Devuan?
... referred up the chain to Debian package management?

No idea.
I have not had good experiences with bug reporting.

... proprietary drivers installation needs to be revised.

Probably, but I would not hold my breath.

Best,

A.

Ogis1975

Member

Registered: 2017-04-21

Posts: 307  

Website

Re: Persistently broken package

Looks kind of involved... but if it works it's better than watching that error for as long as the install lasts.

Is this problem specific to Devuan? Or is it found in Debian also? Could this problem be referred up the chain to Debian package management? It looks like something in the proprietary drivers installation needs to be revised.

Yes, it is this problem specific to Devuan. I tried to install the nvidia driver on a Debian 11 system. No error messages.

---

What economists call over-production is but a production that is above the purchasing power of the worker, who is reduced to poverty by capital and state.
            ----+- Peter Kropotkin -+----

delgado

Member

Registered: 2022-07-14

Posts: 212  

Re: Persistently broken package

Hello,

it is a daedalus installation with the 470-nvidia-driver (470.129.06-6).
The driver finally seems to work, but the "nvidia-persistanced" error remained.

---------
edit / update: replicated installation, error and fix

Problem: apt does not 'fully install' nvidia-persistanced.
But: It will succeed, if nvidia-persistanced is not running.

$ /etc/init.d/nvidia-persistenced stop
$ apt-get upgrade  

And apt should be happy again.

---------
I leave the original post below, since it was posted and happend so on my box.
By now, I think I must have stoped the daemaon sometimes and forget about it.
end edit / update
----------

The following solved it in my case:

$ sudo rm /var/run/nvidia-persistenced/nvidia-persistenced.pid
$ sudo rm /var/run/nvidia-persistenced/socket
fixed it and
$ sudo apt-get upgrade

then succeeded in finalising the post-install-script and starting nvidia-persistanced.
Done.

Some remarks:
Probably, it is a good idea to gzip or move both files instead of deleting them.
It took some time to notice that it is just a daemon, that did not start.

$ /etc/init.d/nvidia-persistanced start

gave an error message respective a pid-file. Messing around with it may or may not result in other hints, if the above does not work.
apt insists to start the daemon by itself, so if you managed to start the daemon, you have to stop it before doing "apt-get upgrade".

Hope this is helpful.
Regards

Last edited by delgado (2022-07-17 18:33:35)

delgado

Member

Registered: 2022-07-14

Posts: 212  

Re: Persistently broken package

Seems too late to edit the previous post. The essence is:

To fix package nvidia-persistenced for apt do:

/etc/init.d/nvidia-persistenced stop && apt-get upgrade