cant add groups using groupadd get a message "cannot lock /etc/passwd; try again later"

[scotsmandrd]

Binary package hint: gnome-terminal

Using Ubuntu 9.10 release 9.10
Gnone terminal
 Installed: 2.28.1-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 2.28.1-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 2.28.1-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

I was trying to add vboxusers group via groupadd but keep getting the error message "cannot lock /etc/passwd; try again later."

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
Date: Thu Jan 28 23:02:46 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/gnome-terminal
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release amd64 (20091027)
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: gnome-terminal 2.28.1-0ubuntu1
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-17.54-generic
SourcePackage: gnome-terminal
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-17-generic x86_64

[Ludwin Janvier (lud-janvier)]

Can you write the exact command line here ; I'll try to reproduce.

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments. Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to New. Thanks again!.

[Edison (edisonantus)]

This is my exact comand line.
edisonantus@edisonantus-laptop:~$ groupadd mysql
groupadd: cannot lock /etc/group; try again later.

I am 2 days old to linux. Help me

[cholericfun (leoherrmann)]

groupadd must be used with root privileges if i am not mistaken