update fails, "AppStream cache update failed."

[Pamela Fong]

Booted 16.04 amd64 from DVD, opened a gnome-terminal and ran,

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get update
Ign:1 cdrom://Ubuntu 16.04 LTS _Xenial Xerus_ - Release amd64 (20160420.1) xenial InRelease
Hit:2 cdrom://Ubuntu 16.04 LTS _Xenial Xerus_ - Release amd64 (20160420.1) xenial Release
Get:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease [247 kB]
Get:5 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease [94.5 kB]
Get:6 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease [94.5 kB]
Get:7 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/main amd64 Packages [119 kB]
Get:8 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages [1,201 kB]
Get:9 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main Translation-en [568 kB]
Get:10 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/main Translation-en [45.3 kB]
Get:11 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [44.0 kB]
Get:12 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/main DEP-11 64x64 Icons [50.8 kB]
Get:13 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/restricted amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [158 B]
Get:14 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [733 kB]
Get:15 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main DEP-11 64x64 Icons [409 kB]
Get:16 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 Packages [252 kB]
Get:17 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main Translation-en [99.8 kB]
Get:18 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [186 kB]
Get:19 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main DEP-11 64x64 Icons [150 kB]
Get:20 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/restricted amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [157 B]
Fetched 4,293 kB in 1s (2,360 kB/s)

** (appstreamcli:2593): CRITICAL **: Error while moving old database out of the way.
AppStream cache update failed.
Reading package lists... Done

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: appstream 0.9.4-1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-21.37-generic 4.4.6
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-21-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
CasperVersion: 1.376
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Mon Jul 11 19:24:40 2016
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20160420.1)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: appstream
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Pamela Fong (katsiki)]

Ubuntu Desktop Live DVD 14.04.1 gives the same error. Simply booted into Live mode, opened a gnome-terminal, and tried to update,

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get update
Ign:1 cdrom://Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS _Xenial Xerus_ - Release amd64 (20160719) xenial InRelease
Hit:2 cdrom://Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS _Xenial Xerus_ - Release amd64 (20160719) xenial Release
Hit:4 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease
Hit:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Hit:6 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease

** (appstreamcli:5561): CRITICAL **: Error while moving old database out of the way.
AppStream cache update failed.
Reading package lists... Done

I didn't make any other changes to the configuration, or install any other software.

[Matthias Klumpp (ximion)]

Is /var/cache/ writable for root? (and /var/cache/app-info/xapian for that matter)

[Pamela Fong (katsiki)]

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ll -d /var/cache
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 120 Jul 19 20:54 /var/cache/
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ll -d /var/cache/app-info/xapian
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 80 Jul 26 18:54 /var/cache/app-info/xapian/

[kikito (cma54)]

hello.

livedvd today :

same as katsiki.

[kikito (cma54)]

maybe a link with #1565965 ?

[kikito (cma54)]

installation today : still exists. . .

[Khionu Terabite (abstractkitty)]

I've re setup a Live Boot USB twice, and I always encounter the issue, without fail. I find the actual ?error code? that comes after `appstreamcli` differs widely, though

[Daniel Gimpelevich (daniel-gimpelevich)]

Still present in ubuntu-16.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso

[Daniel Gimpelevich (daniel-gimpelevich)]

An strace shows the following:

rename("/var/cache/app-info/xapian/default", "/var/cache/app-info/xapian/default_old") = -1 EXDEV (Invalid cross-device link)

Doing "sudo mv /var/cache/app-info/xapian/default /var/cache/app-info/xapian/default_old" followed by "sudo mv /var/cache/app-info/xapian/default_old /var/cache/app-info/xapian/default" makes it work thereafter.

[Matthias Klumpp (ximion)]

Sounds like some OverlayFS weirdness...

[sumit (sumitchawda)]

I too have same issue I installed Ubuntu 16.04 along with Windows 7. I was using Live on installation using ROM. I got an error during installation that it failed to install GRUB with warning that I can not use this installation as first boot over hdd.
I tried running boot-repair and it failed with attached error.
Looking for help.

[Pamela Fong (katsiki)]

I also get an error with installation to SSD:

sudo apt-get update
Hit:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Get:2 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease [102 kB]
Get:3 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease [102 kB]
Hit:4 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports InRelease
Fetched 204 kB in 10s (18.6 kB/s)
AppStream cache update completed, but some metadata was ignored due to errors.
Reading package lists... Done

[Pamela Fong (katsiki)]

I forgot to add that installation was with ubuntu-16.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso.

[Aadithya S (aadityarulez)]

Bug also confirmed in 16.04.2 live boot. So far,this seems to work :
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/appstream/+bug/1601971/comments/11

[Vladimir Mokrozub (mogaba2009)]

Can confirm this error with LTSP-client running 16.04.3:

root@vma-test:~# apt-get update
Сущ:1 http://ru.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Сущ:2 http://ru.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease
Сущ:3 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease

** (appstreamcli:1622): CRITICAL **: Error while moving old database out of the way.
AppStream cache update failed.

This fixes it:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/appstream/+bug/1601971/comments/11

[Anthony Williams (blightfester)]

I was having this same problem. daniel-gimpelevich (#11) FTW

[Pavel Petrovic (pavel-petrovic)]

That's cute it is still there after this LTS lifetime. ver. 16.04.7, booted from USB flash:

root@ubuntu:~# apt update
Ign:1 cdrom://Ubuntu 16.04.7 LTS _Xenial Xerus_ - Release amd64 (20200806) xenial InRelease
Hit:2 cdrom://Ubuntu 16.04.7 LTS _Xenial Xerus_ - Release amd64 (20200806) xenial Release
Hit:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease [109 kB]
Get:6 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease [109 kB]
Get:7 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 Packages [2,049 kB]
Get:8 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main Translation-en [482 kB]
Get:9 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [327 kB]
Get:10 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main DEP-11 64x64 Icons [252 kB]
Get:11 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/restricted amd64 Packages [10.2 kB]
Get:12 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/main amd64 Packages [1,648 kB]
Get:13 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/main Translation-en [380 kB]
Get:14 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [93.7 kB]
Get:15 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/main DEP-11 64x64 Icons [111 kB]
Get:16 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/restricted amd64 Packages [9,824 B]
Fetched 5,581 kB in 1s (3,114 kB/s)

** (appstreamcli:3359): CRITICAL **: Error while moving old database out of the way.
AppStream cache update failed.
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
200 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.

and yes, #11 still fixes it. Thanks.

[Matthias Klumpp (ximion)]

Is this still an issue in Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy)? (Pretty much none of the code used in Xenial exists anymore in its previous form)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for appstream (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]