dpkg assert failure: dpkg: ../../../lib/dpkg/dump.c:170: w_status: Assertion `pigp->want <= want_purge' failed.

Binary package hint: dpkg

ubuntu 9.10
after Upgrade to karmic from intrepid, crash just out of the blue

ProblemType: Crash
Architecture: i386
AssertionMessage: dpkg: ../../../lib/dpkg/dump.c:170: w_status: Assertion `pigp->want <= want_purge' failed.
Date: Sun Nov 1 14:46:24 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/dpkg
Package: dpkg 1.15.4ubuntu2
ProcCmdline: dpkg --configure -a
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 PATH=(custom, user)
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
Signal: 6
SourcePackage: dpkg
StacktraceTop:
 __kernel_vsyscall ()
 raise () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6
 abort () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6
 __assert_fail () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6
 ?? ()
Title: dpkg assert failure: dpkg: ../../../lib/dpkg/dump.c:170: w_status: Assertion `pigp->want <= want_purge' failed.
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic i686
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