upgrading in sid

It's been a while, but I just attempted a massive upgrade (executing "aptitude upgrade") and ended up with:


Setting up debhelper (5.0.63) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
libgnomevfs2-extra
libgnomevfs2-0
libedata-book1.2-2
libedata-cal1.2-6
libgnome2-0
gnome-about
libbonoboui2-0
libexchange-storage1.2-3
libgnomeui-0
libgnome-window-settings1
libecal1.2-7
libebook1.2-9
evolution-data-server
libpanel-applet2-0
libgnome-desktop-2
gnome-control-center
bug-buddy
libgnome-menu2
libedataserverui1.2-8
libcamel1.2-10
libslab0
capplets-data
dia-common
dia
metacity-common
python-gmenu
gnome-menus
libmetacity0
libgnomekbd-common
libgnomekbd1
metacity
libgnomekbdui1
sun-java5-jre
sun-java5-bin
sun-java5-plugin


So I fiddled a bit without success.


Unpacking replacement desktop-base ...
gconftool-2: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/libxml2.so.2: undefined symbol: gzopen64
dpkg: warning - old post-removal script returned error exit status 127
dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
gconftool-2: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/libxml2.so.2: undefined symbol: gzopen64
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/desktop-base_4.0.4_all.deb (--unpack):
subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 127
gconftool-2: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/libxml2.so.2: undefined symbol: gzopen64
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
subprocess post-removal script returned error exit status 127
Preparing to replace gnome-session 2.18.2-1 (using .../gnome-session_2.20.2-1_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement gnome-session ...
gconftool-2: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/libxml2.so.2: undefined symbol: gzopen64
dpkg: warning - old post-removal script returned error exit status 127
dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
gconftool-2: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/libxml2.so.2: undefined symbol: gzopen64
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/gnome-session_2.20.2-1_i386.deb (--unpack):
subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 127
gconftool-2: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/libxml2.so.2: undefined symbol: gzopen64
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
subprocess post-removal script returned error exit status 127
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/shared-mime-info_0.22-2_i386.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/libgnomevfs2-common_1%3a2.20.1-1_all.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/libgnome2-common_2.20.1.1-1_all.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/desktop-base_4.0.4_all.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/gnome-session_2.20.2-1_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)




The above is in response to apt-get -f install (what used to work in the past for fixing issues, maybe that's my mistake?)


If I try to upgrade one of those packages individually with aptitude install shared-mime-info then the below happens:

The following packages will be upgraded:
gnome-session libgnome2-common libgnomevfs2-common shared-mime-info
4 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 795 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/2706kB of archives. After unpacking 1461kB will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] y
Writing extended state information... Error!
E: I wasn't able to locate file for the desktop-base package. This might mean you need to manually fix this package.
E: Couldn't lock list directory..are you root?


This is my main workstation, and I'd like to get it sorted out. If I have to uninstall all of gnome or something in order to do that, that's fine (I figure it'll be possible to reinstall most of it later if I need it (and anyhow it's my third choice in desktop environment behind kde and openbox)).


I'm sure I can google and figure out the exact technical detail that's causing my failure, but it seems prudent to ask here about what steps I ought to take to try to remedy the problem with the least amount of hassle.

thanks so much in advance for any advice,
~c


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