In an attempt to clear the file system on WSL2, I uninstalled python3 via
sudo rm -rf /usr/bin/python3 sudo rm -rf /usr/lib/python3 sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/python3 In turn, I am struggling to reinstall and use python3.* through WSL. When trying to reinstall python3 through sudo apt-get install --reinstall python3, I was presented with something similar to the following error.
Reading package lists... DoneBuilding dependency tree... DoneReading state information... DoneThe following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required: htop libnl-3-200 libnl-genl-3-200 libpython2-stdlib libpython2.7-minimal libpython2.7-stdlib python-pkg-resources python-setuptools python2 python2-minimal python2.7 python2.7-minimalUse 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 22 not upgraded.40 not fully installed or removed.Need to get 0 B/22.8 kB of archives.After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.(Reading database ... 99157 files and directories currently installed.)Preparing to unpack .../python3_3.10.6-1~22.04.1_amd64.deb .../var/lib/dpkg/info/python3.prerm: 5: py3clean: not founddpkg: warning: old python3 package pre-removal script subprocess returned error exit status 127dpkg: trying script from the new package instead .../var/lib/dpkg/tmp.ci/prerm: 5: py3clean: not founddpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/python3_3.10.6-1~22.04.1_amd64.deb (--unpack): new python3 package pre-removal script subprocess returned error exit status 127/var/lib/dpkg/info/python3.postinst: 47: py3compile: not founddpkg: error while cleaning up: installed python3 package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 127Errors were encountered while processing: /var/cache/apt/archives/python3_3.10.6-1~22.04.1_amd64.debE: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)This lead me down several rabbit holes, where I was unequipped to understand. I went through the following command in a similar order, before realizing I might have created a much larger problem...
sudo apt purge python3------Reading package lists... DoneBuilding dependency tree... DoneReading state information... DoneThe following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required: apport-symptoms bc blt debhelper debugedit devhelp-common dh-autoreconf dh-strip-nondeterminism distro-info distro-info-data dwz eatmydata fdisk fonts-lyx gdisk gir1.2-atk-1.0 gir1.2-atspi-2.0 gir1.2-freedesktop gir1.2-gdkpixbuf-2.0 gir1.2-glib-2.0 gir1.2-gtk-2.0 gir1.2-gtk-3.0 gir1.2-harfbuzz-0.0 gir1.2-packagekitglib-1.0 gir1.2-pango-1.0 htop icu-devtools intltool-debian libappstream4 libarchive-cpio-perl libarchive-zip-perl libatk1.0-doc libblkid-dev libboost-dev libboost1.74-dev libbrotli-dev libcairo-script-interpreter2 libdatrie-dev libdbus-1-dev libdebhelper-perl libdeflate-dev libdevhelp-3-6 libeatmydata1 libegl-dev libegl1-mesa-dev libepoxy-dev libevent-core-2.1-7 libfdisk1 libffi-dev libfile-stripnondeterminism-perl libfontconfig-dev libfontconfig1-dev libfreetype-dev libfreetype6-dev libfribidi-dev libgail-common libgail18 libgl-dev libgles-dev libgles1 libglib2.0-bin libglib2.0-doc libglvnd-core-dev libglvnd-dev libglx-dev libgraphite2-dev libgtk-3-doc libgtk2.0-0 libgtk2.0-bin libgtk2.0-common libharfbuzz-gobject0 libice-dev libicu-dev libimagequant0 libjbig-dev libjpeg-dev libjpeg-turbo8-dev libjpeg8-dev libjs-jquery libjs-jquery-ui libjs-sphinxdoc libjs-underscore liblbfgsb0 liblzma-dev libmail-sendmail-perl libmount-dev libncurses-dev libnetplan0 libnl-3-200 libnl-genl-3-200 libopengl-dev libopengl0 libopenjp2-7 libpackagekit-glib2-18 libpango1.0-doc libpangoxft-1.0-0 libpcre16-3 libpcre2-16-0 libpcre2-32-0 libpcre2-dev libpcre2-posix3 libpcre3-dev libpcre32-3 libpcrecpp0v5 libpfm4 libpixman-1-dev libpng-dev libpng-tools libpython2-stdlib libpython2.7-minimal libpython2.7-stdlib libpython3-stdlib libqhull-r8.0 libraqm0 libselinux1-dev libsepol-dev libsm-dev libstemmer0d libsub-override-perl libsys-hostname-long-perl libtcl8.6 libthai-dev libtiff-dev libtiffxx5 libtinfo-dev libtk8.6 libutempter0 libwayland-bin libwayland-dev libxcb-render0-dev libxcb-shm0-dev libxcomposite-dev libxcursor-dev libxdamage-dev libxfixes-dev libxft-dev libxi-dev libxinerama-dev libxkbcommon-dev libxml2-dev libxml2-utils libxmlb2 libxrandr-dev libxrender-dev libxsimd-dev libxtst-dev libyaml-0-2 libz3-4 libz3-dev llvm-14 llvm-14-runtime packagekit packagekit-tools pango1.0-tools po-debconf python-apt-common python-babel-localedata python-matplotlib-data python-pkg-resources python-setuptools python2 python2-minimal python2.7 python2.7-minimal python3-minimal python3-pip-whl python3-setuptools-whl python3.10 python3.10-dev python3.10-minimal run-one screen tk8.6-blt2.5 tmux unicode-data uuid-dev wayland-protocolsUse 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.The following packages will be REMOVED: apport* byobu* cloud-guest-utils* cloud-init* command-not-found* devhelp* landscape-client* landscape-common* libatk-bridge2.0-dev* libatk1.0-dev* libatspi2.0-dev* libcairo2-dev* libgdk-pixbuf-2.0-dev* libglib2.0-dev* libglib2.0-dev-bin* libgtk-3-dev* libgtk2.0-dev* libharfbuzz-dev* libpango1.0-dev* llvm-14-dev* llvm-14-tools* lsb-release* netplan.io* networkd-dispatcher* pastebinit* plymouth-theme-ubuntu-text* python3* python3-appdirs* python3-apport* python3-apt* python3-attr* python3-automat* python3-babel* python3-backcall* python3-bcrypt* python3-beniget* python3-blinker* python3-brotli* python3-bs4* python3-certifi* python3-cffi-backend* python3-chardet* python3-click* python3-colorama* python3-commandnotfound* python3-configobj* python3-constantly* python3-cryptography* python3-cycler* python3-dateutil* python3-dbus* python3-debconf* python3-decorator* python3-dev* python3-distro* python3-distro-info* python3-distupgrade* python3-distutils* python3-fonttools* python3-fs* python3-gast* python3-gdbm* python3-gi* python3-hamcrest* python3-html5lib* python3-httplib2* python3-hyperlink* python3-idna* python3-importlib-metadata* python3-incremental* python3-ipython* python3-jedi* python3-jeepney* python3-jinja2* python3-json-pointer* python3-jsonpatch* python3-jsonschema* python3-jwt* python3-keyring* python3-kiwisolver* python3-launchpadlib* python3-lazr.restfulclient* python3-lazr.uri* python3-lib2to3* python3-lxml* python3-lz4* python3-markupsafe* python3-matplotlib* python3-matplotlib-inline* python3-more-itertools* python3-mpmath* python3-netifaces* python3-newt* python3-numpy* python3-oauthlib* python3-olefile* python3-openssl* python3-packaging* python3-parso* python3-pexpect* python3-pickleshare* python3-pil* python3-pil.imagetk* python3-pip* python3-pkg-resources* python3-ply* python3-problem-report* python3-prompt-toolkit* python3-ptyprocess* python3-pyasn1* python3-pyasn1-modules* python3-pycurl* python3-pygments* python3-pyparsing* python3-pyrsistent* python3-pythran* python3-requests* python3-scipy* python3-secretstorage* python3-serial* python3-service-identity* python3-setuptools* python3-six* python3-software-properties* python3-soupsieve* python3-sympy* python3-systemd* python3-tk* python3-traitlets* python3-twisted* python3-tz* python3-ufolib2* python3-unicodedata2* python3-update-manager* python3-urllib3* python3-venv* python3-wadllib* python3-wcwidth* python3-webencodings* python3-wheel* python3-yaml* python3-zipp* python3-zope.interface* python3.10-venv* python3.11-venv* software-properties-common* ubuntu-advantage-tools* ubuntu-minimal* ubuntu-pro-client* ubuntu-pro-client-l10n* ubuntu-release-upgrader-core* ubuntu-wsl* ufw* unattended-upgrades* update-manager-core*0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 155 to remove and 21 not upgraded.40 not fully installed or removed.After this operation, 548 MB disk space will be freed.Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y(Reading database ... 99157 files and directories currently installed.)Removing cloud-init (24.4.1-0ubuntu0~22.04.1) .../var/lib/dpkg/info/cloud-init.prerm: 21: py3clean: not founddpkg: error processing package cloud-init (--remove): installed cloud-init package pre-removal script subprocess returned error exit status 127dpkg: too many errors, stopping/var/lib/dpkg/info/cloud-init.postinst: 423: py3compile: not founddpkg: error while cleaning up: installed cloud-init package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 127Errors were encountered while processing: cloud-initProcessing was halted because there were too many errors.E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)I've been trying to understand this for much longer than I'd like to admit. There are also quite a few existing threads on this subject; however, the conversations have not been enough to help me through this.
EDIT: I was asked for my Ubuntu version. I'd love to hear how else I may find this, but using lsb_release -a gives the following error.
-bash: /usr/bin/lsb_release: /usr/bin/python3: bad interpreter: No such file or directory