Linux 9 stretch What to do about reviving speakup?

Thu Mar 28 12:25:56 EDT 2019

I know that speakup was upgraded some time ago and it quit
starting on every system I had upgraded to Debian Stretch.  I
have a couple of systems that mersifully still talk and usually
log in to the stretch systems with no problem but this isn't
rightas the stretch systems should have the ability  to talk on
their own so I am trying to get this ability back and the error
salad is uniquely opaque.

	I thought.  Let's just delete the speakup package and
reinstall the new version and everything should be fine as we
will get the new scripts.  Situation resolved right?

	Not exactly.  Speech is always harder than you think
uness it just works from the get go.

Here's what happened when I tried to do that:

root at wb5agz:~# apt-get purge speakup
E: Unable to locate package speakup

Okay.  Then I should be able to install speakup right?

root at wb5agz:~# apt-get install speakup
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  espeak espeak-data espeak-ng-data libespeak-ng1 libespeak1 libpcaudio0
  libsonic0
Use 'apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  espeakup*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 25 not upgraded.
12 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 79.9 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
dpkg: error processing package espeakup (--remove):
 package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should
 reinstall it before attempting a removal
Errors were encountered while processing:
 espeakup
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

	My first response is, Ya.  Tell me something I don't
already know.  Let's try the autoremove and see what happens.

root at wb5agz:~# apt-get autoremove

Reading package lists... 0%

Reading package lists... 100%

Reading package lists... Done

Building dependency tree... 0%

Building dependency tree... 50%

Building dependency tree... 60%

Building dependency tree... 75%

Building dependency tree... 91%

Building dependency tree       

Reading state information... 0%

Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  espeakup
The following packages will be upgraded:
  espeakup
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 25 not upgraded.
12 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/37.2 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Reading changelogs... 100%

Reading changelogs... Done
(Reading database ... 
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(Reading database ... 42616 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../espeakup_1%3a0.80-5+deb9u3_i386.deb ...
Failed to stop espeakup.service: Unit espeakup.service not loaded.
invoke-rc.d: initscript espeakup, action "stop" failed.
dpkg: warning: subprocess old pre-removal script returned error exit status 5
dpkg: trying script from the new package instead ...
Failed to stop espeakup.service: Unit espeakup.service not loaded.
invoke-rc.d: initscript espeakup, action "stop" failed.
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/espeakup_1%3a0.80-5+deb9u3_i386.deb (--unpack):
 subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 5
update-rc.d: warning: start and stop actions are no longer supported; falling back to defaults
Failed to start espeakup.service: Unit espeakup.service is not loaded properly: Invalid argument.
See system logs and 'systemctl status espeakup.service' for details.
invoke-rc.d: initscript espeakup, action "start" failed.
● espeakup.service - Software speech output for Speakup

	At this point, the output of the scripts is so garbled
with binary stuff, I can not really include any more but suffice
it to say, I seem to be hosed in removing the old speakup and
installing a new one so what is the least destructive way to
purge all that is causing trouble and replace it with the proper
new environment for speakup to work again as it used to.

	The version of espeakup shown right now is

ESpeakup 0.80

It was installed last November when I upgraded the system to
stretch.

	Since I can't seem to get rid of the old way to start and
stop services for speakup, it is no surprise that it isn't
working but I am not sure where to slash and burn next as the
rest of the system is fine so let's do as little harm as
necessary.

Thanks for any good ideas.

	Martin McCormick  WB5AGZ