REALLY forcing removal of Debian or Ubuntu packages

Computers can patronise

It took me a while to find this, so here it is for reference.

First, try the following:

sudo dpkg -r --force-remove-reinstreq firestarter

If that complains because its pre-removal script fails, edit it. Find it with, for example:

locate firestarter.prerm

Take out the failing lines. Now try the first script again, then do it with the --purge option if you so wish.

I can now proceed to upgrade to Edgy...