ubuntu-gnome 14.10 rc fails to install with a user-setup postrm failure

The relevant bits appear to be

    Oct 23 08:26:58 ubuntu-gnome ubiquity: Purging configuration files for user-setup (1.48ubuntu3) ...
    Oct 23 08:27:12 ubuntu-gnome ubiquity: open2: fork failed: Nepavyko išskirti atminties at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/ConfModule.pm line 59.
    Oct 23 08:27:12 ubuntu-gnome ubiquity: dpkg: error processing package user-setup (--purge):
    Oct 23 08:27:12 ubuntu-gnome ubiquity: subprocess installed post-removal script returned error exit status 12

This laptop has 1 gigabyte of RAM. Ubuntu GNOME's release notes say the minimum is 1.5 GB. That might be it.

(It also has a broken 4 GB internal SSD, which explains all those /dev/sda errors. I was installing into the 16 GB /dev/sdb.)

FWIW the system doesn't boot from the hard disk. Gets stuck somewhere in boot stage, with a pretty splash screen, but never progresses: https://twitter.com/mgedmin/status/525234926749487104

The fix is to boot in rescue mode, remount / as writable, and

    mv /sbin/initctl.REAL /sbin/initctl
    mv /sbin/start-stop-daemon.REAL /sbin/start-stop-daemon
    sync

Then reboot again and run

    sudo apt-get install -f

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Reviewing your log files attached to this bug report it seems that there is a problem with the disk to which you are trying to install Ubuntu. I'd recommend performing a back up of your existing operating system and then investigating the situation. Measures you might take include checking cable connections for your disks and using software tools to investigate the health of your hardware. In the event that is is not in fact an error with your hardware please set the bug's status back to New. Thanks and good luck!

[This is an automated message. I apologize if it reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

Hello, bot.

The disk died a long time ago because this is a crappy cheap slow SSD with horrible write leveling that did not like the ext3 journal. That's why I reinstalled Ubuntu onto the *other* disk. (I should find a screwdriver and remove the broken SSD, but I'm lazy.)

I don't mind the bug being closed as Invalid, since 1 GB of RAM this machine had is less than the required minimum for Ubuntu GNOME.