[PLUG] Error exit status 127 (package manager)

[John Jason Jordan]

I've spent the past two hours trying to fix a broken installation of
OpenOffice.org. I could use some suggestions.

The problem:
OpenOffice.org was badly broken in Edgy. I upgraded to Feisty, which
also upgraded OOo. However the new version was still slightly broken. I
decided to uninstall and reinstall. The removal in Synaptic was no
problem. I cleaned up the residuals and made sure it was a complete and
thorough removal. Then I reinstalled. About half way through the
reinstall the computer locked up. (Ubuntu forums have a number of
complaints about Synaptic locking up the computer on Feisty.)

After I rebooted I opened Synaptic. Whole bunches of messed up stuff. I
thought I had it all cleaned up and I tried to restart the
installation. This time it completed, but gave me a list or errors --
all missing dependencies pointing a openoffice.org-hyphenation. I have
managed to remove all the other packages, but I cannot get rid of the
hypenation package. Everything gives me the error:

 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 127

I have tried dpkg --remove, apt-get --purge, but neither got the job
done. Someone on a web site said he solved that problem by editing the
reference to the offending package in a "status" file from
"half-installed" to "not-installed." That did make Synaptic stop seeing
it as a residual package, but the minute I try to install OOo again I
get the same error message again.

I need a serious industrial strength package fixer. Any suggestions?