Unable to commit changes

[Richard Green]

Binary package hint: adept-manager

Fresh install of Feisty Kubuntu amd64 daily build 20070404. Ran adept updater, which found about 30 packages to update. However, during the run it spit out a message that changes couldn't be committed. I was not able to determine which package was broken.
  I then opened up Adept manager, thinking I'd install one package at a time until I found the culprit. As I opened Adept, it immediately spit out the message "You will not be able to change your system settings in any way(install, remove, or upgrade software), because another process is using the packaging system database...."
  I checked ps aux for other adept processes, and found none, so I rebooted, thinking that'd clean out any orphans. However, after the reboot, I attempted to open adept, and it immediately spit out the same error

[Richard Green (rtg-aapsc)]

Testing daily build 20070405...
  INstall went well, and initial run of adept updater also worked, installing 5 packages and upgrading 29.

...however, at the end of the run, I was left with a message "A new version of Kubuntu is available! Click next if you wish to upgrade now."
  WTF? this is a fresh install of TODAY's daily build! ANd it's tellin me I should upgrade??? To what?

...its a moot point anyway. The 'Next' button is grayed out... My only active option is 'Quit'

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

I saw this message today also and will confirm it.

[Richard Green (rtg-aapsc)]

The original problem seems to have been fixed (fail to commit)
with todays' daily build (20070410), the 'version upgrade' problem is still there, but different:
the message offering a new version is still there, but the 'next' button is now labelled 'version upgrade' and is not grayed out. The message, however, still refers to a 'next' button, which now is not there.
When you click on 'version upgrade, it immediately fails with an error retrieving the release announcement, and a misleading indication that it might be attributable to a bad network connection. (patently false, since I just successfully downloaded and installed 8 packages).

  I noticed two other bugs filed this morning addressing this issue as well

[Richard Green (rtg-aapsc)]

see also bug #'s 104542 and 105139

[LinuxGeek2020 (matthewtroycampbell)]

I seem to be getting this same error with Kubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon. Except it does not tell me the message "You will not be able to change your system settings in any way(install, remove, or upgrade software), because another process is using the packaging system database....". It just says that changes can't be committed. Also when I open Adept, it opens two Adept loaders and only one of them loads and the other one just eventually quits after about a minute. It would be awesome if they made a fix or if anybody has found a solution to this problem.

[Dennis Murczak (dmurczak)]

The problem can be manually fixed using dpkg --configure -a, which continues the interrupted dpkg run. Of course it would be better if Adept would recover automatically. See also bug #172592.

[blackgravity (jacob-donley)]

I too have this message on the 7.10 ubuntu version. However, I am just an ordinary layman when it comes to computer programming, zero knowledge. I was just tired of windows. I can't manually fix anything. Is there anything I can do?

[Dennis Murczak (dmurczak)]

Hello blackgravity, I'm glad to offer some help for "noobs" here :-) When some "cryptic" command is posted on a Linux forum etc., it just means you must input (or copy and paste) that command into a terminal window. The terminal is a program that lets you communicate with the operating system via written commands instead of clicking on things.

In Kubuntu, you can open a terminal window by opening the K-Menu (where the programs are), going to the submenu "System" and clicking on "Konsole". A black window that is mostly empty and waiting for keyboard input should appear.

Copy and paste (via right-click menu) the following there:

sudo dpkg --configure -a

Maybe you have to press Enter to tell it you are finished with the input, and it will ask you for your password and then execute the command, which continues the interrupted installation run.

[Juan Carlos Torres (jucato)]

Marking this bug as a duplicate of bug #48627, which keeps track of the fix that was released for Gutsy.