subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1

[sergiobenrocha2]

Xubuntu 14.04 amd64, prey 1.3.9:

Setting permissions on /var/log/prey.log
chowning /var/log/prey.log to uid 999 and gid 998
Running "config activate" as prey
--
Ensuring presence of config dir: /etc/prey
Syncing /etc/prey/prey.conf with /usr/lib/prey/versions/1.3.9/prey.conf.default
Setting up this as current...
No version is set as current.
Setting permissions on /usr/lib/prey/current
Running post_activate hooks...
Voila! All good.
--
Installing init scripts.
Sweet! Please run `prey config gui` to finish installation.
Voila! All good.
dpkg: error processing package prey (--install):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 prey

[sergiobenrocha2]

And for some reason, "Update location" and "Sound alarm" didn't work in the first install (I updated, without purge the last package). So now I purge the package and everything in /usr/lib/prey, install again, and these feature worked, but with this error in the install.

[mauricioschneider]

Hello @sergiobenrocha2, thanks for your feedback. The issue you report might be related to this: http://askubuntu.com/questions/611777/how-to-resolve-dpkg-error-configure/611975#611975, which I'll be taking care of really soon.

I'll let you know when it's fixed in case you want to try it out for yourself.

[sergiobenrocha2]

Seems it's fixed in 1.3.10 ?

[mauricioschneider]

I indeed changed the POSTINST file of the .deb package to make use of gksu. This makes the installation to run smooth when using dpkg -i and apt-get install -f afterwards to install the new gksu dependency, but when you install using the Ubuntu Software Center you still might get an error, which I'm hoping to fix really soon.

How are you installing Prey?

[sergiobenrocha2]

Download & dpkg -i

[mauricioschneider]

If you were not able to reproduce the problem in 1.3.10, I'll go ahead and close the issue. Feel free to open it again if you have the same problem again.

[dcrystalj]

I have same problem on ubuntu 16.04. I downloaded prey_1.5.1_amd64.deb and run sudo dpkg -i prey_1.5.1_amd64.deb
it didn't met dependencies so i run sudo apt-get -f install

at the end i get error

chowning /etc/prey to uid 999 and gid 999
Setting permissions on /var/log/prey.log
chowning /var/log/prey.log to uid 999 and gid 999
Running "config activate" as prey
--
Ensuring presence of config dir: /etc/prey
Syncing /etc/prey/prey.conf with /usr/lib/prey/versions/1.5.1/prey.conf.default
Setting up this as current...
Warning: This version is already set as current.
Setting permissions on /usr/lib/prey/current
Running post_activate hooks...
Voila! All good.
--
Installing init scripts.

dpkg: error processing package prey (--install):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 prey

[johnfrancisgit]

I'm having this exact problem as well. I'm using Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and prey version 1.5.1

[ez2torta]

Having same problem, running Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa

[raliste]

Guys, we have finally sat down, put our things together, detected the problem and already working on a fix. Should be ready by next week.