package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should reinstall it before attempting configuration

参照 url

症状

sudo apt upgrade とかするとエラーが出る。

dpkg: error processing package libpython3.8-minimal:amd64 (--configure):
 package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should
 reinstall it before attempting configuration
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
                                                                                                          dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of python3.8-minimal:
 python3.8-minimal depends on libpython3.8-minimal (= 3.8.10-0ubuntu1~20.04.4); however:
  Package libpython3.8-minimal:amd64 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package python3.8-minimal (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libpython3.8-stdlib:amd64:
 libpython3.8-stdlib:amd64 depends on libpython3.8-minimal (= 3.8.10-0ubuntu1~20.04.4); however:
  Package libpython3.8-minimal:amd64 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package python3.8-dev (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 python3.8-minimal
 libpython3.8-minimal
 libpython3.8-stdlib:amd64
 python3.8-dev
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

参照 url に書いてあることを一通り試したがだめ

sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get install --fix-broken
sudo apt-get purge python* && sudo apt-get autoclean && sudo apt-get install python*
sudo dpkg-reconfigure python2.7*

解決策

dpkg でパッケージを 手動で再帰的に remove していくと解決できた。

sudo dpkg --remove --force-remove-reinstreq --force-depends <package-name>

remove 対象パッケージ (上記エラーメッセージの最後)

 python3.8-minimal
 libpython3.8-minimal
 libpython3.8-stdlib:amd64
 python3.8-dev

python3.8-minimal を remove -> error

$ sudo dpkg --remove --force-remove-reinstreq python3.8-minimal
dpkg: dependency problems prevent removal of python3.8-minimal:
 python3.8 depends on python3.8-minimal (= 3.8.10-0ubuntu1~20.04.4).
 python3-minimal depends on python3.8-minimal (>= 3.8.2-1~).

dpkg: error processing package python3.8-minimal (--remove):
 dependency problems - not removing
Errors were encountered while processing:
 python3.8-minimal

python3.8 と python3-minimal が depends on python3.8-minimal -> remove

$ sudo dpkg --remove --force-remove-reinstreq python3.8
$ sudo dpkg --remove --force-remove-reinstreq python3-minimal

これを繰り返していく

remove 対象の4つのパッケージすべてが remove できたら apt upgrade できた