libpam-systemd postinstall stuck on upgrade

[Casey Marshall]

Just did an "apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade" on my trusty laptop. It's been stuck in the libpam-systemd postinst for 15-20 minutes:

Recent output from dist-upgrade:

Unpacking xpra (0.12.3+dfsg-1ubuntu1) over (0.12.2+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.6.7.1-1) ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-16) ...
ureadahead will be reprofiled on next reboot
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.10.1-0ubuntu2) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.22-1ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.54ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.13-1) ...
Setting up libcgmanager0:i386 (0.24-0ubuntu5) ...
Setting up libcgmanager0:amd64 (0.24-0ubuntu5) ...
Setting up libudev1:amd64 (204-5ubuntu20) ...
Setting up libudev1:i386 (204-5ubuntu20) ...
Setting up udev (204-5ubuntu20) ...
udev stop/waiting
udev start/running, process 30898
Removing 'diversion of /bin/udevadm to /bin/udevadm.upgrade by fake-udev'
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Setting up libsystemd-daemon0:amd64 (204-5ubuntu20) ...
Setting up systemd-services (204-5ubuntu20) ...
Setting up libpam-systemd:amd64 (204-5ubuntu20) ...
Installing new version of config file /etc/init/systemd-logind.conf ...
[stuck here]

Relevant processes running:

     | | | | |-bash---sudo---apt-get---dpkg---libpam-systemd:---invoke-rc.d---start

root 28517 17005 0 16:14 pts/26 00:00:00 sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
root 28579 28517 3 16:14 pts/26 00:00:56 apt-get dist-upgrade
root 30803 28579 0 16:15 pts/28 00:00:00 /usr/bin/dpkg --status-fd 69 --configure libcgmanager0:i386 libcgmanager0:amd64 libudev1:amd64 libudev1:i386 udev:amd64 libsystemd-daemon0:amd64 systemd-services:amd64 libpam-systemd:amd64 libsystemd-login0:amd64 chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra:amd64 chromium-browser:amd64 chromium-browser-l10n:all libgudev-1.0-0:amd64 cgmanager:amd64 liblxc1:amd64 python3-lxc:amd64 lxc:amd64 lxc-templates:amd64 libva1:amd64 libva-x11-1:amd64 libsystemd-journal0:amd64 ubuntu-minimal:amd64 gir1.2-gudev-1.0:amd64 libxenstore3.0:amd64 libxen-4.4:amd64 python-qt4:amd64 python-qt4-dbus:amd64 xpra:amd64
root 30928 30803 0 16:15 pts/28 00:00:00 /bin/sh /var/lib/dpkg/info/libpam-systemd:amd64.postinst configure 204-5ubuntu19
root 30942 30928 0 16:15 pts/28 00:00:00 /bin/sh /usr/sbin/invoke-rc.d systemd-logind start
root 30984 30942 0 16:15 pts/28 00:00:00 start systemd-logind

System info:

Description: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
Release: 14.04

libpam-systemd:
  Installed: 204-5ubuntu20
  Candidate: 204-5ubuntu20
  Version table:
 *** 204-5ubuntu20 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

This is fixed in utopic, the upstart script went away completely in favor of D-BUS activation.

[Michael Heuberger (michael.heuberger)]

I have this issue, not sure if it's related:

Setting up libpam-systemd:amd64 (204-5ubuntu20.4) ...
start: Job failed to start
invoke-rc.d: initscript systemd-logind, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error processing package libpam-systemd:amd64 (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 libpam-systemd:amd64
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

[Steve Conklin (sconklin)]

It may be fixed in Utopic but it's still causing hangs during updates on Trusty

[Steve Conklin (sconklin)]

For anyone else who hits this bug on Trusty, here's how to resolve it:

Kill the update that's in process
$ sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock
$ sudo dpkg --configure -a

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

The most prominent cause of breakage in trusty was bug 1382510, which is fixed in trusty-updates now. Do people still encounter this with 204-5ubuntu20.8? If so, we need to debug what else breaks in the init script (adding some "set -x", etc.)

[bam (mybigspam)]

Got this on Ubuntu 20.04