#!/bin/sh
set -x
set -e
# Automatically added by dh_installinit
if [ -x "/etc/init.d/nepenthes" ]; then
        if [ -x "`which invoke-rc.d 2>/dev/null`" ]; then
                invoke-rc.d nepenthes stop || exit $?
        else
                /etc/init.d/nepenthes stop || exit $?
        fi
fi
# End automatically added section


then...


illwolf@mit[~]$ sudo dpkg --purge --force-all nepenthes
(Reading database ... 76314 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing nepenthes ...
Stopping nepenthes: invoke-rc.d: initscript nepenthes, action "stop" failed.
dpkg: error processing nepenthes (--purge):
 subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
Starting nepenthes: nepenthes.
Errors were encountered while processing:
 nepenthes
illwolf@mit[~]$ nano /var/lib/dpkg/info/nepenthes.prerm
illwolf@mit[~]$ nano nano /var/lib/dpkg/info/nepenthes.prerm
illwolf@mit[~]$ sudo dpkg --purge --force-all nepenthes
(Reading database ... 76309 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing nepenthes ...
+ set -e
+ '[' -x /etc/init.d/nepenthes ']'
++ which invoke-rc.d
+ '[' -x /usr/sbin/invoke-rc.d ']'
+ invoke-rc.d nepenthes stop
Stopping nepenthes: invoke-rc.d: initscript nepenthes, action "stop" failed.
+ exit 1
dpkg: error processing nepenthes (--purge):
 subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
Starting nepenthes: nepenthes.
Errors were encountered while processing:
 nepenthes