debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable

[chocka]

Upgrading packages that use debconf sometimes fail with the following error:

debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Looks like that all packages which use debconf are affected here. Perhaps apt or dpkg should check whether /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked before starting an update.

Setting up ufw (0.23.3) ...
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
dpkg: error processing ufw (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Setting up cups (1.3.9-2ubuntu8) ...
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
dpkg: error processing cups (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

It would be entirely unhelpful if dpkg checked the debconf lock; you'd just get much the same failure slightly further up.

Maybe apt could check, but I think this might be more realistic for something that's intended to be much smarter, such as update-manager, so reassigning there. However, note that it is not actually possible to check this correctly outside debconf right now, as debconf does not necessarily use the same database in all installations. I recommend not fixing this in haste.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

Well, you might be able to check it by starting a debconf-communicate process and seeing whether it exits 1 or 127. (I'm not quite sure why it's 127 for "did nothing"; weird.)

[Julian Mehnle (jmehnle)]

As a resolution to the immediate lock problem, https://wiki.edubuntu.org/DebuggingInstallationIssues recommends using `fuser -v /var/cache/debconf/config.dat` to determine the process holding the lock and then killing it.

[Kevin S (kevin-simpson)]

Thank you...

Julian Mehnle wrote:
> As a resolution to the immediate lock problem,
> https://wiki.edubuntu.org/DebuggingInstallationIssues recommends using
> `fuser -v /var/cache/debconf/config.dat` to determine the process
> holding the lock and then killing it.
>
>

[Garebear (garyrk)]

Thank you, works great.

Gary

On Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 7:24 AM, Kevin S
<email address hidden>wrote:

> Thank you...
>
> Julian Mehnle wrote:
> > As a resolution to the immediate lock problem,
> > https://wiki.edubuntu.org/DebuggingInstallationIssues recommends using
> > `fuser -v /var/cache/debconf/config.dat` to determine the process
> > holding the lock and then killing it.
> >
> >
>
> --
> debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by
> another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/349469
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of a duplicate bug.
>

[Thomas Zahreddin (thomas-zahreddin)]

I had the same problem:
This solved it for me:
sudo rm -rf /var/cache/debconf/*
sudo apt-get install -f

[patpat (masottaus)]

the same thing here on 8.04 tryng to run a humble debconf script...

the proposed solution didn't work , the file has no one locking it...
I've reinstalled debconf & debconf-utils... so far no luck...

[Meng Jiao (meng1usa)]

#8, Thomas's method fixed my problem

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

I recommend against Thomas' method in comment #8. While it is technically a cache, removing it removes all saved answers to debconf questions, and you'll have to answer them all again on future upgrades!

Simply rebooting, while inelegant, would be much less destructive.

[kate dyson (kmdyson)]

Thanks, Colin...I'll give it a go

cheers

kate

On 22 June 2011 10:43, Colin Watson <email address hidden> wrote:
> I recommend against Thomas' method in comment #8.  While it is
> technically a cache, removing it removes all saved answers to debconf
> questions, and you'll have to answer them all again on future upgrades!
>
> Simply rebooting, while inelegant, would be much less destructive.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to a
> duplicate bug report (719784).
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/349469
>
> Title:
>  debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by
>  another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
>
> Status in “debconf” package in Ubuntu:
>  Triaged
>
> Bug description:
>  Binary package hint: cups
>
>  Crash detection report attached.
>
>  ProblemType: Package
>  Architecture: i386
>  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.10
>  ErrorMessage: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
>  NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
>  Package: cups 1.3.9-2ubuntu8
>  SourcePackage: cups
>  Title: package cups 1.3.9-2ubuntu8 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
>  Uname: Linux 2.6.27-11-generic i686
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/debconf/+bug/349469/+subscriptions
>

--
make tea...not war

[GIANLUCA (saragianlu777)]

Il 22/06/2011 19:43, Colin Watson ha scritto:
> I recommend against Thomas' method in comment #8. While it is
> technically a cache, removing it removes all saved answers to debconf
> questions, and you'll have to answer them all again on future upgrades!
>
> Simply rebooting, while inelegant, would be much less destructive.
>
>
thanx so much!!
I love my linux!!!

gianlu, Italy

[Mia (komorochema-gmail)]

Thanks!!!! Very very thanks too xD

2011/6/23, Brian Murray <email address hidden>:
> ** Tags added: debconf-config-locked
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to a
> duplicate bug report (545106).
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/349469
>
> Title:
> debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by
> another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
>
> Status in “debconf” package in Ubuntu:
> Triaged
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: cups
>
> Crash detection report attached.
>
> ProblemType: Package
> Architecture: i386
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.10
> ErrorMessage: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit
> status 1
> NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
> Package: cups 1.3.9-2ubuntu8
> SourcePackage: cups
> Title: package cups 1.3.9-2ubuntu8 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess
> post-installation script returned error exit status 1
> Uname: Linux 2.6.27-11-generic i686
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/debconf/+bug/349469/+subscriptions
>

--
Atte. Mia

[dan hawk (yellowbronco)]

i tried reboot and went back to the begining , didnt fix it

[Leonardo Santagada @ Proge.com.br (santagada-proge)]

the problem for me appeared to be that software center was open while installing using the command line apt-get... but I'm not sure it was really related. I closed it and removed/installed the package again and it worked.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

On Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 03:41:52PM -0000, Leonardo Santagada @ Proge.com.br wrote:
> the problem for me appeared to be that software center was open while
> installing using the command line apt-get... but I'm not sure it was
> really related.

This is indeed a classic reason for getting this kind of error. You can
only use one package management program at a time.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

On Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 04:09:35PM -0000, Colin Watson wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 03:41:52PM -0000, Leonardo Santagada @ Proge.com.br wrote:
> > the problem for me appeared to be that software center was open while
> > installing using the command line apt-get... but I'm not sure it was
> > really related.

> This is indeed a classic reason for getting this kind of error. You can
> only use one package management program at a time.

Isn't it a bit strange to hit a debconf error in that case, however? You
should run into locking problems with either apt or dpkg well before debconf
is involved.

--
Steve Langasek Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer http://www.debian.org/
<email address hidden> <email address hidden>

[Erick Brunzell (lbsolost)]

I got this just after quitting a live install of an Lubuntu Oneiric Beta 2 "candidate" to collect some bug info, including screenshots.

Since Lubuntu has no screenshot tool installed by default I had used synaptic to install the xfce screenshot tool.

I'm posting this mostly so I can follow up on it myself.

No major worries, but I wish we could roll back to a sane ubiquity ....... circa Lucid ;^)

Tongue. In. Cheek.

Just smile.

[Walter Garcia-Fontes (walter-garcia)]

I got this in an update with Oneiric Beta today.

[ajaxStardust (novicenotes-net)]

a cursory review of the existing commentary here leads me reconsider my speculation over the source of this issue, as manifest on /my/ system. Please indulge my narrative concerning the unusual approach to package-management I whimsically employed with this Lubuntu flavour of Ubuntu "Natty" (11.04?).

Over the past 10 - 14 months or so, I've installed at least a handful of different Linux distributions on as many HDD's (embarking upon something new with each instance of Win XP / .NET incompatibility surfacing, as essentially renders the MS sys in a /broken/ state), from classic GNOME-based Ubuntu, Xubuntu, to OpenSUSE including a full-blown KDE setup, to my current favourite, the LXDE-based "Lubuntu" variant of the 'buntu.

Somewhere along the line, i discovered the Pandora's Box of pkg mgt in the application known as (cover your ears, kids!) /Eveinstaller/. Once I started down that path, I threw caution to the wind and pulled out all the stops just to see if this software could actually perform as well as it presents a veritable plethora of software not likely to be found via default Canonical + Partner repos (e.g. deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu natty main restricted universe multiverse). If I had to summarize it into one sentence, I'm inclined to phrase the experience as "Eve___ basically wrecked my sources, if not the entire dpkg functionality, such that-- I'd have to have paid much closer attention to the changes to /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ (vs those repos i might have added, for example, the Banshee media player, launchpad repos , or other software repos added through the convenient PPA method (e.g. sudo add-apt-repository ppa:user/ppa-name ).

The bottom-line, as far as I'm concerned: I realise I've damaged my system's /default/ package manager configuration. The fact that I've experienced this error-- well-- I guess you could say, I'm not surprised; i've been expecting it.

If my anecdote lends insight to anyone; should the reader wish to learn more about the results of the effect of EveInstaller on my system, I'm happy to provide whatever information I can to assist in your own learning; debugging; etc.

I apologise for my verbosity; indeed, i've come to acknowledge the degenerative mentals and, proportionally-- as the community participation history might corroborate-- i hold my tongue by an increasingly exponential factor of instances of contribution (I regret, as my enthusiasm for the spirit of community at Launchpad in general; 'buntu in particular, has not waned in balance).

best regards,
NoviceNotes.Net (the author)

[ebvigmo (erik-vigmostad)]

No output...

On 10/28/2011 12:53 PM, Steve Langasek wrote:
> ** Description changed:
>
> + If you have encountered this bug, please run:
> +
> + sudo fuser /var/cache/debconf/config.dat
> +
> + for each of the shown process IDs, please run:
> +
> + pstree -s $pid
> +
> + and report the output to this bug.
> +
> Binary package hint: cups
>
> Crash detection report attached.
>
> ProblemType: Package
> Architecture: i386
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.10
> ErrorMessage: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
> NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
> Package: cups 1.3.9-2ubuntu8
> SourcePackage: cups
> Title: package cups 1.3.9-2ubuntu8 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
> Uname: Linux 2.6.27-11-generic i686
>

[Joel Wirāmu Pauling (aenertia) (aenertia)]

Wow...

I got this from oneric amd64 live installer environment. ...

sudo fuser /var/cache/debconf/config.dat

[Satyapriyananda (satyapriyananda)]

I am running UBUNTU 11.10

My machine is HP Compaq Presario V3239TU and has nothing to do with AMD

I get the error in crossplatformui.

I may please be dropped from this bug list.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

On Fri, Nov 04, 2011 at 04:15:16AM -0000, Satyapriyananda wrote:
> My machine is HP Compaq Presario V3239TU and has nothing to do with AMD

> I get the error in crossplatformui.

What is crossplatformui?

> I may please be dropped from this bug list.

You would need to drop yourself using the launchpad web interface.

--
Steve Langasek Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer http://www.debian.org/
<email address hidden> <email address hidden>

[hayig2000 (hayig2000)]

i got this error upon failure to update grub, so frontend process kept open

[Dan Devor (ddevor)]

On 11/06/2011 03:02 PM, hayig2000 wrote:
> i got this error upon failure to update grub, so frontend process kept
> open
>
[Bug 349469] Re: debconf: DbDriver "config":
/var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource
temporarily unavailable

Please remove my name from the distribution list for this problem. I get
far to many messages unrelated to my bug report.

[Brad M (mannrb)]

I cannot get WINE1.3 to uninstall, Software Center and Synaptic Pkg Manager have become completely useless until I get around this :

debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
 subprocess new post-removal script returned error exit status 1
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus ...
Processing triggers for bamfdaemon ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf.index...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/wine1.3_1.3.36-0ubuntu1~ppa1~oneiric1_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

pstree -s $pid
init─┬─/usr/bin/termin─┬─/usr/bin/termin
     │ ├─bash───pstree
     │ └─3*[{/usr/bin/termi}]
     ├─NetworkManager─┬─dhclient
     │ └─2*[{NetworkManager}]
     ├─accounts-daemon───{accounts-daemo}
     ├─acpid
     ├─apache2─┬─apache2
     │ └─2*[apache2───26*[{apache2}]]
     ├─aptd
     ├─atd
     ├─avahi-daemon───avahi-daemon
     ├─bluetoothd
     ├─colord───2*[{colord}]
     ├─console-kit-dae───64*[{console-kit-da}]
     ├─cron
     ├─cupsd
     ├─2*[dbus-daemon]
     ├─dbus-launch
     ├─dconf-service───2*[{dconf-service}]
     ├─dpkg───frontend─┬─preinst
     │ └─whiptail
     ├─firefox─┬─plugin-containe───9*[{plugin-contain}]
     │ └─25*[{firefox}]
     ├─gconfd-2
     ├─6*[getty]
     ├─gnome-keyring-d───4*[{gnome-keyring-}]
     ├─gsd-printer───{gsd-printer}
     ├─gvfs-afc-volume───{gvfs-afc-volum}
     ├─gvfs-fuse-daemo───3*[{gvfs-fuse-daem}]
     ├─gvfs-gdu-volume
     ├─gvfs-gphoto2-vo
     ├─gvfsd
     ├─gvfsd-burn
     ├─gvfsd-http───2*[{gvfsd-http}]
     ├─gvfsd-metadata
     ├─gvfsd-trash
     ├─irqbalance
     ├─lightdm─┬─Xorg
     │ ├─gnome-session─┬─applet.py
     │ │ ├─bluetooth-apple───{bluetooth-appl}
     │ │ ├─deja-dup-monito───2*[{deja-dup-monit}]
     │ │ ├─gdu-notificatio
     │ │ ├─gnome-fallback-───2*[{gnome-fallback}]
     │ │ ├─gnome-panel───2*[{gnome-panel}]
     │ │ ├─gnome-settings-───2*[{gnome-settings}]
     │ │ ├─gnome-sound-app───{gnome-sound-ap}
     │ │ ├─metacity───2*[{metacity}]
     │ │ ├─nautilus───2*[{nautilus}]
     │ │ ├─nm-applet───{nm-applet}
     │ │ ├─polkit-gnome-au───2*[{polkit-gnome-a}]
     │ │ ├─ssh-agent
     │ │ ├─telepathy-indic───{telepathy-indi}
     │ │ ├─update-notifier───3*[{update-notifie}]
     │ │ ├─zeitgeist-datah───{zeitgeist-data}
     │ │ └─3*[{gnome-session}]
     │ └─2*[{lightdm}]
     ├─mission-control
     ├─modem-manager
     ├─notify-osd───2*[{notify-osd}]
     ├─oneconf-service───2*[{oneconf-servic}]
     ├─polkitd───{polkitd}
     ├─pulseaudio─┬─gconf-helper
     │ ...

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

Brad, your pstree output shows an orphaned dpkg process:

     ├─dpkg───frontend─┬─preinst
     │ └─whiptail

Do you know how this process was launched? Did you run apt-get or dpkg from a terminal and then close the terminal?

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

* In one of the dupes (#380491) the submitter says that running tasksel (not as root) simultaneously with "dpkg --configure --pending" (as root) results in the error message.

* In #419100 the submitter suggests that update-manager is conflicting with itself when spawned in "Automatic update / Install security updates without confirmation" mode.

* In #482523 the submitter says that the installer was also running.

* I am able to trigger the message ("debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable") by doing the following:

    while : ; do dpkg-reconfigure -pcritical <package-that-calls-debconf> ; done & update-manager # Then agree to Install Updates

#434286 also mentions use of dpkg-reconfigure.

(So far I have read the dupes up through the six hundred thousands.)

I agree with Steve Langasek who wrote in #18, "You should run into locking problems with either apt or dpkg well before debconf
is involved." Not only in the sense "I'd expect..." but in the sense "It would be better if...": the error messages printed by apt and dpkg are likely to give the user a better idea of what is going wrong (namely, that two processes are trying to carry out package management actions at the same time) than debconf's low-level "/var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process".

Can this+dupes therefore be considered bugs in dpkg-reconfigure, tasksel and other programs not taking the right locks?

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

dpkg-reconfigure in fact does not invoke either apt or dpkg, so it's normal that it doesn't take the locks. I think it would be very strange if either dpkg-reconfigure or tasksel accounted for the very many reports of this bug however, as both interfaces are very low-level and I would expect at least one of the bug submitters before now to have mentioned they were running such a command if so.

I think the duplicate bug count/frequency is a sign that something is going wrong and invoking debconf on behalf of the user *without* being initiated from the commandline.

I think I also have to say that, if this really comes down to dpkg-reconfigure or tasksel, rather than having these tools claim apt or dpkg locks directly, we should probably regard the failure as user error and arrange to suppress the error reporting.

[Scott Kitterman (kitterman)]

Where I've seen this sort of thing (and I'm sure it's buried in the dupes) is on postfix package installs. Perhaps it would be worth while to examine it's use of debconf and see if it's doing anything troubling/likely to cause such problems. That might lead to a hint for the more general case.

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

There is no shortage of duplicates of this report. I am inclined to guess that in many cases faulty package scripts are leaving processes around which fail to release the config.dat lock under some circumstances.

In order to test this hypothesis I'd like to go back in time and in each of the 400-odd cases find the rogue process and then figure out why it's running on the user's system. Obviously that's impossible. But perhaps we will have chances to do this in the future.

I certainly don't think that the *majority* of cases has arisen from a package management command being run from a terminal while another package management process runs. I was just asking in #30 whether or not there are higher-level locks that should be taken by such commands, resulting in earlier and more useful error messages. It seems not. In that case I'd say that for now the error message ("debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable") should be extended to give some advice about how to fix the problem... and possibly also to ask for information to be contributed here.

[Clint Byrum (clint-fewbar)]

Excerpts from Thomas Hood's message of Wed Mar 21 21:12:53 UTC 2012:
> There is no shortage of duplicates of this report. I am inclined to
> guess that in many cases faulty package scripts are leaving processes
> around which fail to release the config.dat lock under some
> circumstances.
>
> In order to test this hypothesis I'd like to go back in time and in each
> of the 400-odd cases find the rogue process and then figure out why it's
> running on the user's system. Obviously that's impossible. But perhaps
> we will have chances to do this in the future.
>
> I certainly don't think that the *majority* of cases has arisen from a
> package management command being run from a terminal while another
> package management process runs. I was just asking in #30 whether or
> not there are higher-level locks that should be taken by such commands,
> resulting in earlier and more useful error messages. It seems not. In
> that case I'd say that for now the error message ("debconf: DbDriver
> "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process:
> Resource temporarily unavailable") should be extended to give some
> advice about how to fix the problem... and possibly also to ask for
> information to be contributed here.
>

Perhaps an apport bug pattern could be written which would look for what
processes are holding the locks?

[Pierre Greiner (mailpiegr)]

init───aptd───aptd───sh───dpkg-preconfigu─┬─dpkg-preconfigu
                                          └─matlab-support.

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

Can you please describe the circumstances under which you obtained that pstree?

[Michał Borsuk (michal-borsuk)]

On 27.04.2012 11:36, Thomas Hood wrote:
> Can you please describe the circumstances under which you obtained that
> pstree?
>
Hi. Sorry, after the transition to Unity I no longer consider Ubuntu a
work-stable system, therefore I have no business to help you, especially
because the transition to another system cost me a lot of time.

--
Best regards, mit freundlichen Grüssen, meilleurs sentiments, Pozdrowienia,

Michał Borsuk

[Emile Wintraeken (wintraek)]

I am sorry but I do not remember that anymore.
Got the problem while trying to install Ubuntu on a Lenovo laptop, but for
other reasons had to switch to Win 7.

Regards,

From: Thomas Hood <email address hidden>
To: Emile Wintraeken/Netherlands/Contr/IBM@IBMNL
Date: 27-04-12 11:46
Subject: [Bug 349469] Re: debconf: DbDriver "config":
/var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource
temporarily unavailable
Sent by: <email address hidden>

Can you please describe the circumstances under which you obtained that
pstree?

--
You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to a
duplicate bug report (663863).
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/349469

Title:
  debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by
  another process: Resource temporarily unavailable

Status in ?debconf? package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  If you have encountered this bug, please run:

    sudo fuser /var/cache/debconf/config.dat

  for each of the shown process IDs, please run:

    pstree -s $pid

  and report the output to this bug.

  Binary package hint: cups

  Crash detection report attached.

  ProblemType: Package
  Architecture: i386
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.10
  ErrorMessage: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit
status 1
  NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
  Package: cups 1.3.9-2ubuntu8
  SourcePackage: cups
  Title: package cups 1.3.9-2ubuntu8 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess
post-installation script returned error exit status 1
  Uname: Linux 2.6.27-11-generic i686

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/debconf/+bug/349469/+subscriptions

Tenzij hierboven anders aangegeven: / Unless stated otherwise above:
IBM Nederland B.V.
Gevestigd te Amsterdam
Inschrijving Handelsregister Amsterdam Nr. 33054214

[Marcelo (maniat1k-deactivatedaccount)]

El 27/04/12 06:50, Michał Borsuk escribió:
> On 27.04.2012 11:36, Thomas Hood wrote:
>> Can you please describe the circumstances under which you obtained that
>> pstree?
>>
> Hi. Sorry, after the transition to Unity I no longer consider Ubuntu a
> work-stable system, therefore I have no business to help you, especially
> because the transition to another system cost me a lot of time.
>
that was a long time ago... sorry I do not remember...

[minhdai (tranminhdai13)]

update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/lupdate-qt4 to provide /usr/bin/lupdate (lupdate) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/lrelease-qt4 to provide /usr/bin/lrelease (lrelease) in auto mode.
Setting up qt4-qmake (4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1) ...
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/qmake-qt4 to provide /usr/bin/qmake (qmake) in auto mode.
Setting up libqt4-dev (4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1) ...
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/moc-qt4 to provide /usr/bin/moc (moc) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/uic-qt4 to provide /usr/bin/uic (uic) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: warning: skip creation of /usr/share/man/man1/uic.1.gz because associated file /usr/share/man/man1/uic-qt4.1.gz (of link group uic) doesn't exist.
Setting up phonon-backend-null (4:4.7.0really4.6.0-0ubuntu1) ...
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
dpkg: error processing phonon-backend-null (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libphonon-dev:
 libphonon-dev depends on phonon-backend-null | phonon; however:
  Package phonon-backend-null is not configured yet.
  Package phonon is not installed.
dpkg: error processing libphonon-dev (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Setting up libqt4-opengl-dev (4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1) ...
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
                          Setting up libqtwebkit-dev (2.2.1-1ubuntu4) ...
Setting up libx11-doc (2:1.4.99.1-0ubuntu2) ...
Setting up libxi-dev (2:1.6.0-0ubuntu2) ...
Setting up x11proto-record-dev (1.14.1-2) ...
Setting up libxtst-dev (2:1.2.0-4) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Errors were encountered while processing:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> man-db
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>phonon-backend-null
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> libphonon-dev
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

what is the error and how to fix it? Please help! :(

[Stepan Shamaiev (skipp-s)]

init───aptd───aptd───sh───dpkg-preconfigu

[[e-mail] (jyf3911306)]

OK,I have already solved the bug now. And thank you.<br /><div id="origbody"><div style="background: #f2f2f2;">----- 原始邮件 -----<br />发件人：Stepan Shamaiev &lt;<email address hidden>&gt;<br />收件人：<email address hidden><br />主题：[Bug 349469] Re: debconf: DbDriver &quot;config&quot;: /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable<br />日期：2012年05月13日 06点59分<br /></div><br />init───aptd───aptd───sh───dpkg-preconfigu<br/>-- <br/>You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to a<br/>duplicate bug report (785835).<br/>https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/349469<br/>Title:<br/> debconf: DbDriver &quot;config&quot;: /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by<br/> another process: Resource temporarily unavailable<br/>Status in “debconf” package in Ubuntu:<br/> Triaged<br/>Bug description:<br/> If you have encountered this bug, please run:<br/> sudo fuser /var/cache/debconf/config.dat<br/> for each of the shown process IDs, please run:<br/> pstree -s $pid<br/> and report the output to this bug.<br/> Binary package hint: cups<br/> Crash detection report attached.<br/> ProblemType: Package<br/> Architecture: i386<br/> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.10<br/> ErrorMessage: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1<br/> NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia<br/> Package: cups 1.3.9-2ubuntu8<br/> SourcePackage: cups<br/> Title: package cups 1.3.9-2ubuntu8 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1<br/> Uname: Linux 2.6.27-11-generic i686<br/>To manage notifications about this bug go to:<br/>https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/debconf/+bug/349469/+subscriptions<br/></div>

[Steve Weltman (southbaysteve1)]

Hi Guys,
This is meaningless to me but I followed the instructions for the first post in this thread and I have pasted the output below.

init───aptd───dpkg───frontend───memtest86+.post

[houssien adham mohamed (houssien-91)]

init─┬─NetworkManager─┬─dhclient
     │ ├─dnsmasq
     │ └─2*[{NetworkManager}]
     ├─accounts-daemon───{accounts-daemon}
     ├─acpid
     ├─aptd─┬─dpkg───frontend───memtest86+.post
     │ └─{aptd}
     ├─at-spi-bus-laun─┬─dbus-daemon
     │ └─3*[{at-spi-bus-laun}]
     ├─at-spi2-registr───{at-spi2-registr}
     ├─atd
     ├─avahi-daemon───avahi-daemon
     ├─bamfdaemon───2*[{bamfdaemon}]
     ├─bluetoothd
     ├─colord───2*[{colord}]
     ├─console-kit-dae───64*[{console-kit-dae}]
     ├─cron
     ├─cupsd
     ├─3*[dbus-daemon]
     ├─2*[dbus-launch]
     ├─dconf-service───2*[{dconf-service}]
     ├─firefox───20*[{firefox}]
     ├─gconfd-2
     ├─geoclue-master
     ├─6*[getty]
     ├─gksu───2*[{gksu}]
     ├─gnome-keyring-d───5*[{gnome-keyring-d}]
     ├─gnome-screensav───2*[{gnome-screensav}]
     ├─gnome-terminal─┬─bash───pstree
     │ ├─gnome-pty-helpe
     │ └─3*[{gnome-terminal}]
     ├─goa-daemon───{goa-daemon}
     ├─grub-mount
     ├─gvfs-afc-volume───{gvfs-afc-volume}
     ├─gvfs-fuse-daemo───3*[{gvfs-fuse-daemo}]
     ├─gvfs-gdu-volume
     ├─gvfs-gphoto2-vo
     ├─gvfsd
     ├─gvfsd-burn
     ├─gvfsd-metadata
     ├─gvfsd-trash
     ├─hud-service───2*[{hud-service}]
     ├─indicator-appli───{indicator-appli}
     ├─indicator-datet───2*[{indicator-datet}]
     ├─indicator-messa───{indicator-messa}
     ├─indicator-print───2*[{indicator-print}]
     ├─indicator-sessi───2*[{indicator-sessi}]
     ├─indicator-sound───2*[{indicator-sound}]
     ├─irqbalance
     ├─lightdm─┬─Xorg
     │ ├─lightdm─┬─gnome-session─┬─bluetooth-apple───2*[{bluetooth-appl+
     │ │ │ ├─compiz───3*[{compiz}]
     │ │ │ ├─deja-dup-monito───2*[{deja-dup-monit+
     │ │ │ ├─gdu-notificatio───2*[{gdu-notificati+
     │ │ │ ├─gnome-fallback-───2*[{gnome-fallback+
     │ │ │ ├─gnome-settings-─┬─syndaemon
     │ │ │ │ └─3*[{gnome-settings+
     │ │ │ ├─nautilus───2*[{nautilus}]
     │ │ │ ├─nm-applet───2*[{nm-applet}]
     │ │ │ ├─polkit-gnome-au───2*[{polkit-gnome-a+
     │ │ │ ├─ssh-agent
     │ │ │ ├─telepathy-indic───2*[{telepathy-indi+
     │ │ │ ├─update-notifier───2*[{update-notifie+
     │ │ │ └─3*[{gnome-session}]
     │ │ └─{lightdm}
     │ └─2*[{lightdm}]
     ├─mission-control───2*[{mission-control}]
     ├─modem-manager
     ├─2*[mount.ntfs]
     ├─nmbd
     ├─notify-osd───2*[{notify-osd}]
     ├─polkitd───{polkitd}
     ├─pulseaudio─┬─gconf-helper
     │ └─2*[{pulseaudio}]
     ├─rsyslogd───3*[{rsyslogd}]
     ├─rtkit-daemon───2*[{rtkit-daemon}]
     ├─sh───gtk-window-deco───2*[{gtk-window-deco}]
     ├─smbd───smbd
     ├─ubuntu-geoip-pr
     ├─ubuntuone-syncd───2*[{ubuntuone-syncd}]
     ├─udevd───2*[udevd]
     ├─udisks-daemon─...

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

Colin points out this is probably related to bug #469354: dpkg-preconfigure doesn't take the dpkg lock, so if there's an aptd hanging around waiting for debconf answers, we'll get a collision on the debconf lock.

So there seem to be two parts to this bug:

 - we need to figure out why there's an aptd hanging around waiting for debconf answers (possibly a UI bug?)
 - we need to do more graceful error handling when there *is* something else holding the lock, since this may be legitimate - possibly by having dpkg-preconfigure try to take the dpkg lock instead and then recognizing this as a valid condition instead of crashing.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

I'm just going to drop a mention of http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=469354 in here, since I think it may be related and maybe somebody will find it useful. However, it's not clear to me that resolving that would make the crashes go away; it might well just move them.

[Muraki Kazutaka (cyberpunk002)]

In my case,
[user@localhost] $ pstree -s $pid
show this:
init─┬─NetworkManager─┬─dhclient
     │ ├─dnsmasq
     │ └─2*[{NetworkManager}]
     ├─accounts-daemon───{accounts-daemon}
     ├─acpid
     ├─atd
     ├─avahi-daemon───avahi-daemon
     ├─bamfdaemon───2*[{bamfdaemon}]
     ├─bluetoothd
     ├─chrome─┬─chrome
     │ ├─chrome───4*[{chrome}]
     │ └─27*[{chrome}]
     ├─chrome-sandbox───chrome─┬─5*[chrome───3*[{chrome}]]
     │ └─nacl_helper_boo
     ├─colord───2*[{colord}]
     ├─console-kit-dae─┬─63*[{console-kit-dae}]
     │ └─{console-kit-dae}\264k\267
     ├─cron
     ├─cupsd
     ├─3*[dbus-daemon]
     ├─2*[dbus-launch]
     ├─dconf-service───2*[{dconf-service}]
     ├─gconfd-2
     ├─geoclue-master
     ├─6*[getty]
     ├─gnome-keyring-d─┬─4*[{gnome-keyring-d}]
     │ └─{gnome-keyring-d}\264k\267
     ├─gnome-terminal─┬─bash───pstree
     │ ├─gnome-pty-helpe
     │ └─3*[{gnome-terminal}]
     ├─goa-daemon───{goa-daemon}
     ├─gvfs-afc-volume───{gvfs-afc-volume}
     ├─gvfs-fuse-daemo───3*[{gvfs-fuse-daemo}]
     ├─gvfs-gdu-volume
     ├─gvfs-gphoto2-vo
     ├─gvfsd
     ├─gvfsd-burn
     ├─gvfsd-metadata
     ├─gvfsd-trash
     ├─hud-service───2*[{hud-service}]
     ├─indicator-appli───{indicator-appli}
     ├─indicator-datet─┬─{indicator-datet}
     │ └─{indicator-datet}\264k\267
     ├─indicator-messa───{indicator-messa}\264k\267
     ├─indicator-print───2*[{indicator-print}]
     ├─indicator-sessi─┬─{indicator-sessi}
     │ └─{indicator-sessi}\264k\267
     ├─indicator-sound─┬─{indicator-sound}
     │ └─{indicator-sound}\264k\267
     ├─irqbalance
     ├─lightdm─┬─Xorg
     │ ├─lightdm─┬─gnome-session─┬─bluetooth-apple─┬─{bluetooth-apple}
     │ │ │ │ └─{bluetooth-apple}\264k\267
     │ │ │ ├─deja-dup-monito─┬─{deja-dup-monito}
     │ │ │ │ └─{deja-dup-monito}\264k\267
     │ │ │ ├─gdu-notificatio───2*[{gdu-notificatio}]
     │ │ │ ├─gnome-fallback-─┬─{gnome-fallback-}
     │ │ │ │ └─{gnome-fallback-}\264k\267
     │ │ │ ├─gnome-screensav───2*[{gnome-screensav}]
     │ │ │ ├─gnome-settings-─┬─syndaemon
     │ │ │ │ └─3*[{gnome-settings-}]
     │ │ │ ├─gpg-agent
     │ │ │ ├─metacity───2*[{metacity}]
     │ │ │ ├─nautilus───2*[{nautilus}]
     │ │ │ ├─nm-applet───2*[{nm-applet}]
     │ │ │ ├─polkit-gnome-au─┬─{polkit-gnome-au}
     │ │ │ │ └─{polkit-gnome-au}\264k\267
     │ │ │ ├─python─┬─redshift
     │ │ │ │ └─3*[{python}]
     │ │ │ ...

[Laurens De Graeve (laurenssspooky)]

I got;
init───aptd───dpkg───linux-image-3.2───run-parts───frontend───update-grub

[Steven Toth (steveftoth)]

This was after a failed install of ttf-mscorefonts-installer, where I killed the process asking for permission after it hung.

steveftoth@steveftoth-ThinkPad-T400:~$ sudo fuser /var/cache/debconf/config.dat
/var/cache/debconf/config.dat: 7582
steveftoth@steveftoth-ThinkPad-T400:~$ pstree -s 7582
init───frontend───preinst

[Wojtek Krawczyk (wojtekk)]

init─┬─/usr/bin/termin─┬─/usr/bin/termin
     │ ├─bash───pstree
     │ └─3*[{/usr/bin/termin}]
     ├─NetworkManager─┬─dhclient
     │ ├─dnsmasq
     │ └─2*[{NetworkManager}]
     ├─VBoxSVC─┬─VBoxNetDHCP
     │ ├─VirtualBox───24*[{VirtualBox}]
     │ └─10*[{VBoxSVC}]
     ├─VBoxXPCOMIPCD
     ├─VirtualBox───5*[{VirtualBox}]
     ├─accounts-daemon───{accounts-daemon}
     ├─acpid
     ├─apache2───5*[apache2]
     ├─aptd───{aptd}
     ├─atd
     ├─avahi-daemon───avahi-daemon
     ├─bamfdaemon───2*[{bamfdaemon}]
     ├─bluetoothd
     ├─chrome─┬─chrome
     │ ├─chrome───2*[{chrome}]
     │ ├─chrome───3*[{chrome}]
     │ └─47*[{chrome}]
     ├─chrome-sandbox───chrome─┬─18*[chrome───3*[{chrome}]]
     │ ├─2*[chrome───4*[{chrome}]]
     │ └─nacl_helper_boo
     ├─colord───2*[{colord}]
     ├─console-kit-dae───64*[{console-kit-dae}]
     ├─cron
     ├─cupsd
     ├─3*[dbus-daemon]
     ├─2*[dbus-launch]
     ├─dconf-service───2*[{dconf-service}]
     ├─dropbox───15*[{dropbox}]
     ├─gconfd-2
     ├─geoclue-master
     ├─6*[getty]
     ├─gnome-keyring-d───6*[{gnome-keyring-d}]
     ├─gvfs-afc-volume───{gvfs-afc-volume}
     ├─gvfs-fuse-daemo───3*[{gvfs-fuse-daemo}]
     ├─gvfs-gdu-volume
     ├─gvfs-gphoto2-vo
     ├─gvfsd
     ├─gvfsd-burn
     ├─gvfsd-http───2*[{gvfsd-http}]
     ├─gvfsd-metadata
     ├─gvfsd-trash
     ├─hud-service───2*[{hud-service}]
     ├─indicator-appli───{indicator-appli}
     ├─indicator-datet───2*[{indicator-datet}]
     ├─indicator-messa───{indicator-messa}
     ├─indicator-print───2*[{indicator-print}]
     ├─indicator-sessi───2*[{indicator-sessi}]
     ├─indicator-sound───2*[{indicator-sound}]
     ├─irqbalance
     ├─lightdm─┬─Xorg
     │ ├─lightdm─┬─gnome-session─┬─bluetooth-apple───2*[{bluetooth-appl+
     │ │ │ ├─chromium-browse─┬─chromium-browse
     │ │ │ │ └─8*[{chromium-brows+
     │ │ │ ├─compiz─┬─sh───gtk-window-deco───2*[{+
     │ │ │ │ └─4*[{compiz}]
     │ │ │ ├─deja-dup-monito───2*[{deja-dup-monit+
     │ │ │ ├─gnome-fallback-───2*[{gnome-fallback+
     │ │ │ ├─gnome-screensav───2*[{gnome-screensa+
     │ │ │ ├─gnome-settings-─┬─syndaemon
     │ │ │ │ └─3*[{gnome-settings+
     │ │ │ ├─indicator-weath───2*[{indicator-weat+
     │ │ │ ├─nautilus───3*[{nautilus}]
     │ │ │ ├─nm-applet───2*[{nm-applet}]
     │ │ │ ├─polkit-gnome-au───3*[{polkit-gnome-a+
     │ │ │ ├─ssh-agent
     │ │ │ ├─telepathy-indic───2*[{telepathy-indi+
     │ │ │ ├─update-notifier───3*[{update-notifie+
     │ │ │ ├─zeitgeist-datah───{zeitgeist-...

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Dia Jenkins (diajenkins)]

Here's what I got:

pstree -s 8390
init───dpkg───frontend─┬─preinst
                                                └─whiptail

[Napoli (mano3289)]

hello !!mon pc est un acer 7741g ATI ..il marche et d'un coup la souri s'arrete et plus rien ne marche!! je suis obligé d'éteindre mon pc..j'ai aussi mon pc qui chauffe!! merci de me donner un avis si c'est possible cordialement M Napoli

[karlsink (karlsink)]

Please remove my name from your contact list, thank you.

Karl

________________________________
 From: Dia Jenkins <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2012 3:43 PM
Subject: [Bug 349469] Re: debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable

Here's what I got:

pstree -s 8390
init───dpkg───frontend─┬─preinst
                                                └─whiptail

--
You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to a
duplicate bug report (340759).
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/349469

Title:
  debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by
  another process: Resource temporarily unavailable

Status in Debconf:
  New
Status in “aptdaemon” package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in “debconf” package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  If you have encountered this bug, please run:

    sudo fuser /var/cache/debconf/config.dat

  for each of the shown process IDs, please run:

    pstree -s $pid

  and report the output to this bug.

  Binary package hint: cups

  Crash detection report attached.

  ProblemType: Package
  Architecture: i386
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.10
  ErrorMessage: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
  NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
  Package: cups 1.3.9-2ubuntu8
  SourcePackage: cups
  Title: package cups 1.3.9-2ubuntu8 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
  Uname: Linux 2.6.27-11-generic i686

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/debconf/+bug/349469/+subscriptions

[Andrea Corbellini (andrea.corbellini)]

@karlsink: you can edit your subscriptions using the following link:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/debconf/+bug/349469/+subscriptionshttps://launchpad.net/bugs/349469/+subscriptions

[jacob (jacobhargie)]

Apport directed me to this bug; here's what I got from running the pstree command:

[A.K.Karthikeyan (mindaslab)]

I think I have this bug too. Check this out when I try to fix broken packages

$ sudo apt-get -f install
[sudo] password for karthikeyan:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
Setting up man-db (2.6.1-2) ...
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
dpkg: error processing man-db (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

[Blackhawke (michael-vetl)]

Just got this bug for the first time. Here's my pstree:

init,1
  └─aptd,9848 /usr/sbin/aptd
      └─dpkg,21101 --status-fd 74 --configure -a
          └─frontend,21102 -w /usr/share/debconf/frontend /var/lib/dpkg/info/bind9.postinst configure 1:9.8.1.dfsg.P1-4
              └─(bind9.postinst,21121)

[monomakh (monomakh)]

Just got this bug. My pstree^

init,1
  └─likewise-open.p,22630 /var/lib/dpkg/info/likewise-open.postinst configure
      └─frontend,22867 -w /usr/share/debconf/frontend /usr/sbin/pam-auth-update --package
          ├─pam-auth-update,22873 -w /usr/sbin/pam-auth-update --package
          └─whiptail,22875 --backtitle \320\235\320\260\321\201\321\202\321\200\320\276\320\271\320\272\320\260 \320\277\320\260\320\272\320\265\321\202\320\260 --title \320\235\320\260\321\201\321\202\321\200\320\276\320\271\320\272\320\260 PAM --output-fd 11 --msgbox \320\222\321\213\320\261\321\200\320\260\320\275\321\213 \320\275\320\265\321\201\320\276\320\262\320\274\320\265\321\201\321\202\320\270\320\274\321\213\320\265 \320\277\321\200\320\276\321\204\320\270\320\273\320\270 PAM.\012\012\320\241\320\273\320\265\320\264\321\203\321\216\321\211\320\270\320\265 \320\277\321\200\320\276\321\204\320\270\320\273\320\270 PAM \320\275\320\265\320\273\321\214\320\267\321\217 \320\270\321\201\320\277\320\276\320\273\321\214\320\267\320\276\320\262\320\260\321\202\321\214 \320\276\320\264\320\275\320\276\320\262\321\200\320\265\320\274\320\265\320\275\320\275\320\276:\012\012Likewise Open, Winbind NT/Active Directory authentication\012\012\320\222\321\213\320\261\320\265\321\200\320\270\321\202\320\265 \320\264\321\200\321\203\320\263\320\276\320\271 \320\275\320\260\320\261\320\276\321\200 \320\260\320\272\321\202\320\270\320\262\320\270\321\200\321\203\320\265\320\274\321\213\321\205 \320\274\320\276\320\264\321\203\320\273\320\265\320\271. 13 62

[Clint Byrum (clint-fewbar)]

Interesting. So this looks like processes hanging around because they're waiting for users or other machines/network interaction. We probably need to handle this failure with a dpkg frontend that shows the user the current lock holder and gives them the option to break the lock and/or kill the holder.

[Francesco Potortì (pot)]

This is on Debian, but I think it is the same kind of problem.

# pstree -alps 27393
init,1
  └─cron,8085
      └─cron,25543
          └─sh,25544 -c test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.weekly )
              └─sh,25545 -c test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.weekly )
                  └─run-parts,25546 --report /etc/cron.weekly
                      └─upgrade-system,26532 /etc/cron.weekly/upgrade-system
                          └─upgrade-system,26533 /usr/sbin/upgrade-system
                              └─apt-get,26546 -q -y -o DPkg::Options::=--force-confdef -u -fyu dist-upgrade
                                  └─dpkg,27392 --force-confdef --status-fd 27 --configure grub-pc grub manpages
                                      └─frontend,27393 -w /usr/share/debconf/frontend /var/lib/dpkg/info/grub-pc.postinst configure 1.98+20100804-8
                                          └─grub-pc.postins,27403 /var/lib/dpkg/info/grub-pc.postinst configure 1.98+20100804-8
                                              └─grub-mkconfig,29123 /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
                                                  └─30_os-prober,29436 /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober
                                                      └─30_os-prober,29452 /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober
                                                          ├─os-prober,29453 /usr/bin/os-prober
                                                          │ └─50mounted-tests,30038 /usr/lib/os-probes/50mounted-tests /dev/mapper/md5vg-usr
                                                          │ └─mount,15757 -o ro -t ext3 /dev/mapper/md5vg-usr /var/lib/os-prober/mount
                                                          ├─paste,29455 -s -d
                                                          └─tr,29454 ^

[Gilbert Rodriguez (minutogil)]

This is what I got after trying to reinstall Virtualbox

Processing was halted because there were too many errors.
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
root@lnx_web_server:/etc/init.d# sudo fuser /var/cache/debconf/config.dat
/var/cache/debconf/config.dat: 25862
root@lnx_web_server:/etc/init.d#
root@lnx_web_server:/etc/init.d# pstree -alps $pid 25862
init,1
  └─frontend,25862 -w /usr/share/debconf/frontend /var/lib/dpkg/info/memtest86+.postinst configure 4.00-2ubuntu3
      └─(memtest86+.post,25869)
root@lnx_web_server:/etc/init.d#

[Gilbert Rodriguez (minutogil)]

Just want to say I'm going back to 10.04 to much bugs still love the products do.

[jmguimera (jmguimera)]

Download full text

init,1
  ├─NetworkManager,961
  │ ├─dhclient,1001 -d -4 -sf /usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-dhcp-client.action -pf /var/run/sendsigs.omit.d/network-manager.dhclient-eth0.pid -lf /var/lib/dhcp/dhclient-7fa962b1-6e53-4836-ac32-dc1a6cad0eca-eth0.lease -cf /var/run/nm-dhclient-eth0.conf eth0
  │ ├─{NetworkManager},985
  │ └─{NetworkManager},1003
  ├─VBoxSVC,5480 --auto-shutdown
  │ ├─VirtualBox,5550 --comment Ubuntu_IMW --startvm 8fc93e2f-bf5c-446d-9521-183a521a6df0 --no-startvm-errormsgbox
  │ │ ├─{VirtualBox},5554
  │ │ ├─{VirtualBox},5555
  │ │ ├─{VirtualBox},5556
  │ │ ├─{VirtualBox},5557
  │ │ ├─{VirtualBox},5562
  │ │ ├─{VirtualBox},5564
  │ │ ├─{VirtualBox},5565
  │ │ ├─{VirtualBox},5566
  │ │ ├─{VirtualBox},5567
  │ │ ├─{VirtualBox},5568
  │ │ ├─{VirtualBox},5569
  │ │ ├─{VirtualBox},5570
  │ │ ├─{VirtualBox},5571
  │ │ ├─{VirtualBox},5572
  │ │ ├─{VirtualBox},5573
  │ │ ├─{VirtualBox},5574
  │ │ ├─{VirtualBox},5575
  │ │ └─{VirtualBox},5576
  │ ├─{VBoxSVC},5482
  │ ├─{VBoxSVC},5483
  │ ├─{VBoxSVC},5484
  │ ├─{VBoxSVC},5485
  │ ├─{VBoxSVC},5486
  │ ├─{VBoxSVC},5487
  │ ├─{VBoxSVC},5490
  │ ├─{VBoxSVC},5491
  │ ├─{VBoxSVC},5507
  │ └─{VBoxSVC},5561
  ├─VBoxXPCOMIPCD,5475
  ├─accounts-daemon,1420
  │ └─{accounts-daemon},1426
  ├─acpid,1060 -c /etc/acpi/events -s /var/run/acpid.socket
  ├─apache2,1607 -k start
  │ ├─apache2,7498 -k start
  │ ├─apache2,7499 -k start
  │ ├─apache2,7500 -k start
  │ ├─apache2,7501 -k start
  │ └─apache2,7502 -k start
  ├─aptd,7301 /usr/sbin/aptd
  │ └─{aptd},7404
  ├─at-spi-bus-laun,5617
  │ ├─{at-spi-bus-laun},5618
  │ └─{at-spi-bus-laun},5620
  ├─atd,1063
  ├─avahi-daemon,933
  │ └─avahi-daemon,934
  ├─bamfdaemon,4157
  │ ├─{bamfdaemon},4158
  │ └─{bamfdaemon},4159
  ├─bluetoothd,917
  ├─chromium-browse,5313
  │ ├─chromium-browse,5317
  │ ├─chromium-browse,5366
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},5367
  │ │ └─{chromium-browse},5368
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5324
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5325
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5326
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5327
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5328
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5329
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5330
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5331
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5332
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5333
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5334
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5335
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5336
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5338
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5339
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5340
  │ └─{chromium-browse},5347
  ├─chromium-browse,5319 /usr/lib/chromium-browser/chromium-browser --type=zygote
  │ └─chromium-browse,5320
  │ ├─chromium-browse,5341
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},5345
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},5346
  │ │ └─{chromium-browse},5354
  │ └─chromium-browse,5348
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5352
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5353
  │ └─{chromium-browse},5355
  ├─colord,963
  │ ├─{colord},997
  │ └─{colord},1438
  ├─console-kit-dae,1491 --no-daemon
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},1501
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},1502
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},1503
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},1504
  │ ...

[Karma Dorje (taaroa)]

just got this bug for the first time. here's my pstree:

$ sudo fuser /var/cache/debconf/config.dat
/var/cache/debconf/config.dat: 25743

$ sudo pstree -s 25743
init───frontend─┬─grub-pc.postins───ucf
                └─whiptail

$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu quantal (development branch)
Release: 12.10

[Dan Sanderson (9v5uh4p)]

Hopefully another data point: I accidentally started an install of the "ppm" package using "sudo apt-get install ppm" (I had the wrong package name), and it appeared to try to install kexec-tools. It hung during setup of kexec-tools (similar to http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-1214718.html), so I interrupted the process. After this, I could not get pending set-up to finish because /var/cache/debconf/config.dat was locked, like so:

~% pstree -alps 8300
init,1
  └─aptd,3060 /usr/sbin/aptd
      └─dpkg,3098 --status-fd 14 --configure -a --force-confdef --force-confold
          └─frontend,8300 -w /usr/share/debconf/frontend /var/lib/dpkg/info/kexec-tools.postinst configure 1:2.0.2-1ubuntu4
              └─kexec-tools.pos,8303 /var/lib/dpkg/info/kexec-tools.postinst configure 1:2.0.2-1ubuntu4
                  └─update-grub,8313 /usr/sbin/update-grub

I was able to kill -kill 8313 (update-grub), then clean up as suggested in this bug.

~% lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS
Release: 12.04

[Artur Dick (fastback48)]

artur@artur-VirtualBox:~$ pstree -alps 12573
init,1
  └─sh,12572 -c /usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt || true
      └─dpkg-preconfigu,12573 -w /usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt
          ├─(dpkg-preconfigu,12579)
          ├─postfix.config.,12591 -w /tmp/postfix.config.125801 configure
          └─whiptail,12611 --backtitle Paketkonfiguration --title Postfix Configuration --output-fd 12 --default-item Internet-Site --menu Allgemeine Art der Konfiguration: 13 38 5 -- Keine Konfiguration Internet-Site Internet mit Smarthost Satellitensystem Nur lokal
artur@artur-VirtualBox:~$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS
Release: 12.04

[martin suchanek (martin-suc)]

I did following to solve it (many combination):

sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock
sudo rm /var/cache/apt/archives/lock
sudo fuser -v /var/cache/debconf/config.dat
sudo kill
#check if it has been killed or/and appeared again than kill again.

(For instance: I have been using it many times when I have been upgrading from 12.04 to 12.10 quantal due to solve some hang ups of application upgrading (as well apt-get install -f or/and dpkg --configure -a))

[David Spencer (haraisuru)]

init,1
  └─aptd,2161 /usr/sbin/aptd
      └─aptd,2266 /usr/sbin/aptd
          └─sh,2269 -c /usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt || true
              └─dpkg-preconfigu,2270 -w /usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt
                  ├─(dpkg-preconfigu,2272)
                  └─snort.config.22,2325 -e /tmp/snort.config.22733 configure

[haddoud houcien (h2m-mysterious)]

init,1
  ├─NetworkManager,1052
  │ ├─dhclient,1134 -d -4 -sf /usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-dhcp-client.action -pf /var/run/sendsigs.omit.d/network-manager.dhclient-wlan0.pid -lf /var/lib/dhcp/dhclient-9ad1f202-c2a9-465e-a887-6cf15868c132-wlan0.lease -cf /var/run/nm-dhclient-wlan0.conf wlan0
  │ ├─dnsmasq,1138 --no-resolv --keep-in-foreground --no-hosts --bind-interfaces --pid-file=/var/run/sendsigs.omit.d/network-manager.dnsmasq.pid --listen-address=127.0.0.1 --conf-file=/var/run/nm-dns-dnsmasq.conf --cache-size=0 --proxy-dnssec
  │ ├─{NetworkManager},1070
  │ └─{NetworkManager},1135
  ├─accounts-daemon,1549
  │ └─{accounts-daemon},1550
  ├─acpid,1289 -c /etc/acpi/events -s /var/run/acpid.socket
  ├─apache2,1321 -k start
  │ ├─apache2,1326 -k start
  │ ├─apache2,1329 -k start
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1333
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1342
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1349
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1351
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1353
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1355
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1357
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1359
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1371
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1372
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1374
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1375
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1376
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1377
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1378
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1379
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1380
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1381
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1382
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1383
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1384
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1385
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1386
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1387
  │ │ ├─{apache2},1388
  │ │ └─{apache2},1389
  │ └─apache2,1331 -k start
  │ ├─{apache2},1335
  │ ├─{apache2},1336
  │ ├─{apache2},1337
  │ ├─{apache2},1338
  │ ├─{apache2},1339
  │ ├─{apache2},1340
  │ ├─{apache2},1341
  │ ├─{apache2},1343
  │ ├─{apache2},1344
  │ ├─{apache2},1346
  │ ├─{apache2},1347
  │ ├─{apache2},1350
  │ ├─{apache2},1352
  │ ├─{apache2},1354
  │ ├─{apache2},1356
  │ ├─{apache2},1358
  │ ├─{apache2},1360
  │ ├─{apache2},1361
  │ ├─{apache2},1362
  │ ├─{apache2},1363
  │ ├─{apache2},1364
  │ ├─{apache2},1365
  │ ├─{apache2},1366
  │ ├─{apache2},1367
  │ ├─{apache2},1368
  │ └─{apache2},1369
  ├─aptd,2339 /usr/sbin/aptd
  │ ├─aptd,2417 /usr/sbin/aptd
  │ │ └─dpkg,2577 --status-fd 58 --configure libc6:i386 man-db:i386 memtest86+:i386 ubuntu-standard:i386 libc-dev-bin:i386 libc6-dev:i386 python-gpgme:i386 nautilus-dropbox:i386
  │ │ └─frontend,3699 -w /usr/share/debconf/frontend /var/lib/dpkg/info/memtest86+.postinst configure 4.20-1ubuntu1
  │ │ └─(memtest86+.post,3702)
  │ └─{aptd},2418
  ├─atd,1316
  ├─avahi-daemon,1060
  │ └─avahi-daemon,1064
  ├─bamfdaemon,2102
  │ ├─{bamfdaemon},2103
  │ └─{bamfdaemon},2104
  ├─bluetoothd,1037
  ├─chromium-browse,5202
  │ ├─chromium-browse,5205
  │ ├─chromium-browse,5300
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},5302
  │ │ └─{chromium-browse},5303
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5212
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5214
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5215
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5216
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5217
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5218
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},5219
  │ ├─{chrom...

[Ads20000 (ads20000)]

ads@ads-laptop:~$ pstree -alps $pid
init,1
  ├─NetworkManager,737
  │ ├─dhclient,984 -d -4 -sf /usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-dhcp-client.action -pf /var/run/sendsigs.omit.d/network-manager.dhclient-eth1.pid -lf /var/lib/dhcp/dhclient-976010fd-d5e0-43d0-a67f-2e9ba75a2036-eth1.lease -cf /var/run/nm-dhclient-eth1.conf eth1
  │ ├─dnsmasq,1122 --no-resolv --keep-in-foreground --no-hosts --bind-interfaces --pid-file=/var/run/sendsigs.omit.d/network-manager.dnsmasq.pid --listen-address=127.0.0.1 --conf-file=/var/run/nm-dns-dnsmasq.conf --cache-size=0 --proxy-dnssec
  │ ├─{NetworkManager},952
  │ └─{NetworkManager},985
  ├─accounts-daemon,999
  │ └─{accounts-daemon},1000
  ├─atd,892
  ├─bluetoothd,575
  ├─chromium-browse,1772
  │ ├─chromium-browse,1774
  │ ├─chromium-browse,1863
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1867
  │ │ └─{chromium-browse},1868
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1781
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1782
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1783
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1784
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1785
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1786
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1787
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1788
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1789
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1790
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1791
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1792
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1793
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1795
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1796
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1797
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1800
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1813
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1840
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1849
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1851
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1852
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1853
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1856
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1857
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1858
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1859
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1860
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},1862
  │ └─{chromium-browse},1869
  ├─chromium-browse,1776 /usr/lib/chromium-browser/chromium-browser --type=zygote
  │ └─chromium-browse,1777
  │ ├─chromium-browse,1806
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1808
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1811
  │ │ └─{chromium-browse},1838
  │ ├─chromium-browse,1814
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1820
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1821
  │ │ └─{chromium-browse},1836
  │ ├─chromium-browse,1822
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1826
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1827
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1835
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1877
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1878
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1879
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1880
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1881
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1882
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1883
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1884
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1885
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1886
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1887
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1888
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1889
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1890
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1891
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1892
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1893
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1894
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1895
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1896
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},1897
  │ │ ├─{chromium-b...

[Dmitry Sus (deadgnom32)]

visor1933@ubuntu:~$ sudo fuser /var/cache/debconf/config.dat
[sudo] password for visor1933:
/var/cache/debconf/config.dat: 15070
visor1933@ubuntu:~$ pstree -alps 15070
init,1
  └─aptd,14317 /usr/sbin/aptd
      └─aptd,15067 /usr/sbin/aptd
          └─sh,15069 -c /usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt || true
              └─dpkg-preconfigu,15070 -w /usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt
                  └─(dpkg-preconfigu,15072)

[Walter Garcia-Fontes (walter-garcia)]

walter /home/wgarcia 10:15am 55> sudo fuser /var/cache/debconf/config.dat
/var/cache/debconf/config.dat: 22417
walter /home/wgarcia 10:20am 56> pstree -alps 22417
init,1
  └─dpkg,22416 --status-fd 57 --configure mysql-server-5.5:amd64 mysql-server:all
      └─frontend,22417 -w /usr/share/debconf/frontend /var/lib/dpkg/info/mysql-server-5.5.postinst configure 5.5.27-0ubuntu2
          └─mysql-server-5.,22427 -e /var/lib/dpkg/info/mysql-server-5.5.postinst configure 5.5.27-0ubuntu2
              └─invoke-rc.d,22610 /usr/sbin/invoke-rc.d mysql start
                  └─mysql,22626 -e /etc/init.d/mysql start
                      └─start,22637 mysql

[Haslé Pauline (haslepauline)]

I got :

hclient-8587290f-0231-4e34-82dc-085c623e9395-eth0.lease -cf /var/run/nm-dhclient-eth0.conf eth0
  │ ├─dnsmasq,2229 --no-resolv --keep-in-foreground --no-hosts --bind-interfaces --pid-file=/var/run/sendsigs.omit.d/network-manager.dnsmasq.pid --listen-address=127.0.0.1 --conf-file=/var/run/nm-dns-dnsmasq.conf --cache-size=0 --proxy-dnssec
  │ ├─{NetworkManager},915
  │ └─{NetworkManager},2202
  ├─accounts-daemon,1386
  │ └─{accounts-daemon},1399
  ├─acpid,1148 -c /etc/acpi/events -s /var/run/acpid.socket
  ├─at-spi-bus-laun,3475
  │ ├─{at-spi-bus-laun},3476
  │ └─{at-spi-bus-laun},3478
  ├─atd,1182
  ├─avahi-daemon,914
  │ └─avahi-daemon,916
  ├─bamfdaemon,1865
  │ ├─{bamfdaemon},1867
  │ └─{bamfdaemon},1869
  ├─bluetoothd,897
  ├─chromium-browse,4334
  │ ├─chromium-browse,4338
  │ ├─chromium-browse,4572
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},4686
  │ │ └─{chromium-browse},4688
  │ ├─(chromium-browse,5973)
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},4348
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},4349
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},4350
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},4351
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},4352
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},4353
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},4355
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},4356
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},4357
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},4358
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},4359
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},4360
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},4361
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},4363
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},4401
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},4407
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},4470
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},4489
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},4633
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},4712
  │ └─{chromium-browse},14858
  ├─chromium-browse,4341 /usr/lib/chromium-browser/chromium-browser --type=zygote
  │ └─chromium-browse,4342
  │ ├─chromium-browse,4481
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},4499
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},4509
  │ │ └─{chromium-browse},4636
  │ ├─chromium-browse,4523
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},4528
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},4533
  │ │ └─{chromium-browse},4640
  │ ├─chromium-browse,4535
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},4547
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},4550
  │ │ └─{chromium-browse},4639
  │ ├─chromium-browse,4545
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},4548
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},4552
  │ │ └─{chromium-browse},4638
  │ ├─chromium-browse,4558
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},4562
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},4568
  │ │ └─{chromium-browse},4635
  │ └─chromium-browse,11883
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},11885
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},11886
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},11889
  │ └─{chromium-browse},11901
  ├─chromium-browse,16489
  │ ├─chromium-browse,16493
  │ ├─chromium-browse,16651
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},16681
  │ │ └─{chromium-browse},16682
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},16501
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},16505
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},16509
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},16510
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},16511
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},16513
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},16515
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},16518
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},16519
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},16521
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},16522
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},16524
  │ ...

[steinhauser christian (steinhauserchristian)]

lubuntu@lubuntu:~$ sudo fuser /var/cache/debconf/config.dat
lubuntu@lubuntu:~$ su
Mot de passe :
root@lubuntu:/home/lubuntu# sudo fuser /var/cache/debconf/config.dat
root@lubuntu:/home/lubuntu# pstree -alps $pid
init,1
  ├─NetworkManager,4073
  │ ├─dhclient,4373 -d -4 -sf /usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-dhcp-client.action -pf /var/run/sendsigs.omit.d/network-manager.dhclient-eth0.pid -lf /var/lib/dhcp/dhclient-68a76378-2b97-488b-b0c5-d1dbe7c053b4-eth0.lease -cf /var/run/nm-dhclient-eth0.conf eth0
  │ ├─dnsmasq,5100 --no-resolv --keep-in-foreground --no-hosts --bind-interfaces --pid-file=/var/run/sendsigs.omit.d/network-manager.dnsmasq.pid --listen-address=127.0.0.1 --conf-file=/var/run/nm-dns-dnsmasq.conf --cache-size=0 --proxy-dnssec
  │ ├─{NetworkManager},4251
  │ └─{NetworkManager},4374
  ├─accounts-daemon,4967
  │ └─{accounts-daemon},4968
  ├─atd,3282
  ├─bluetoothd,2837
  ├─chromium-browse,6093 /usr/lib/chromium-browser/chromium-browser --type=zygote
  │ └─chromium-browse,6094
  │ ├─chromium-browse,6240
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},6244
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},6246
  │ │ └─{chromium-browse},6247
  │ ├─chromium-browse,6285
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},6289
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},6290
  │ │ └─{chromium-browse},6292
  │ ├─chromium-browse,6336
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},6341
  │ │ ├─{chromium-browse},6342
  │ │ └─{chromium-browse},6345
  │ └─chromium-browse,6394
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},6397
  │ ├─{chromium-browse},6399
  │ └─{chromium-browse},6401
  ├─console-kit-dae,4055 --no-daemon
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4082
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4083
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4084
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4085
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4086
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4087
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4088
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4089
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4090
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4091
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4092
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4093
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4094
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4095
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4096
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4097
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4098
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4099
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4100
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4101
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4102
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4103
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4104
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4105
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4106
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4107
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4108
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4109
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4110
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4111
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4112
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4113
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4114
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4115
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4116
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4117
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4118
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4119
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4120
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4121
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4122
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4123
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4124
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4125
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4126
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4127
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4128
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4129
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4130
  │ ├─{console-kit-dae},4131
  │ ├─...

[FuzzyQ (atomicfuzzyq)]

I got the following:

pstree -alps 13816
init,1
  └─aptd,13791 /usr/sbin/aptd
      └─aptd,13812 /usr/sbin/aptd
          └─sh,13815 -c /usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt || true
              └─dpkg-preconfigu,13816 -w /usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt
                  ├─apt-fast.config,13835 -w /tmp/apt-fast.config.138231 configure 1.7.5-2~quantal1
                  ├─(dpkg-preconfigu,13822)
                  └─whiptail,13840 --backtitle Paketkonfiguration --title Konfiguriere apt-fast --output-fd 12 --nocancel --default-item aria2c --menu \012\012Downloadhelfer-Auswahl: 12 36 2 -- aria2c benutzerdefiniert

[Clint Byrum (clint-fewbar)]

Everybody, the problem is by now well understood. There is a need to
have debconf not explode in a fiery ball of errors when something else
has the database locked.

As such, there's no need to post your ps tree anymore, but thank you
everyone who has!

[Andrea Corbellini (andrea.corbellini)]

Shouldn't this bug be reported upstream or is there a reason why this affects just Ubuntu?

[Andrea Corbellini (andrea.corbellini)]

(I'm asking because I see a high number of affected users/duplicates, but I can't find an equivalent bug on Debian BTS)

[sm (supermorph)]

the way i fix it was doing this....

checked what was using it,

root@ubuntu:/home/supermorph# fuser -v /var/cache/debconf/config.dat
                     USER PID ACCESS COMMAND /var/cache/debconf/config.dat:
                     root 13654 F.... debconf-communi

i then issue a kill command to the pid 13654 (it might be different for you, do not copy n paste just incase something happens)
root@ubuntu:/home/supermorph# kill 13654

it done it,
root@ubuntu:/home/supermorph#

i then proceeded to continue configuring the apps by issuing command, i checked again first though, (to be sure)
root@ubuntu:/home/supermorph# fuser -v /var/cache/debconf/config.dat

root@ubuntu:/home/supermorph# (blank, so it has no locked process now)

then,
root@ubuntu:/home/supermorph# dpkg--configure -a

and bingo, works now.

[CSRedRat (csredrat)]

Affected today with update. Ubuntu 13.04.

[Léa GRIS (lea-gris)]

Same, affected with today update within 13.04

[Siddhanathan Shanmugam (siddhanathan)]

Can confirm, affected today with update. Ubuntu 13.04

[Shao-Wen, Young (b00507031)]

I'm using Lubuntu 13.04(amd64) with kernel version of 3.8.0-16.26; just after bumping into bug 1026149 EVERYtime trying to update by update-manager, I opened a terminal and typed "sudo apt-det update && sudo apt-get upgrade" . Then an apport dialog popped up and took me here.

[taoma (1585641394-n)]

I solve the problem by Thomas Zahreddin (thomas-zahreddin) way! very thanks!
I am chinese new hand to study ubuntu,welcome to communication!

[徐梦阳 (chxumengyang)]

affected today ,by install and reinstall apache~

[codeslinger (codeslinger)]

I just hit this bug while installing 12.04 from a flashdrive

basically it was a simple case of user error, however it is also a program error too, because it is not effective for a program to crash as a means to tell the user that they did something wrong.

if a program has a choice between crashing or checking to see if a file is locked, then it should certainly do the check... this allows the program to exit gracefully and clean-up and most especially it allows for proper informational notices. The alternative is that the user is left perplexed, the bug database gets flooded, and users are forced to reboot because of a simple error....

Steps to Repro (this is only one of many possible scenarios)

1) Start the Installer (ubiquity)

2) While on the "Welcome" choose language screen, open a terminal

3) sudo apt-get install lm-sensors (or any other not currently installed program)

result: crash

expected: error message telling me the resource is locked

note: after quiting the installer... find that system is in unusable state and must reboot

someone needs to give that program a dose of Ubuntu Community Spirit :-)

[Mike Miller (akf-mike-nw2)]

Wow, this has been around for quite sometime and to still be affecting an LTS release is interesting. Bump +1 happened when I was trying to install gnome-system-tools and most of the packs recommended by apt to go along with it and got this error several times during installation and application of changes after downloads.

[Txopi (txopi)]

Like #16 I executed an apt-get install while software-center was running. That seems to be the cause of the crash.

[Arv Evans (arvid-evans)]

I was installing ssmtp in Ubuntu 12.04
no other apt-gets or software center or synaptic was running at the time.

SYSTEM: AMD 2X64-3800 with 4GB RAM and 1TB HD. Ubuntu 12.04 is up to date.

[Arv Evans (arvid-evans)]

While installing ssmtp...seems to point to a broken install of exim4 or exim4-config.
dpkg was messed up and required "apt-get install -f" to fix.

[Nur (nursabrinarisman)]

thanks to all the comment. actually, what i'm doing is, i format the PC
again. n I can use it

On Sat, Nov 30, 2013 at 7:17 AM, Steve Langasek <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> ** Changed in: aptdaemon (Ubuntu)
> Status: Fix Released => Confirmed
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/349469
>
> Title:
> debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by
> another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
>
> Status in Ambasa Operating System:
> New
> Status in Debconf:
> New
> Status in “aptdaemon” package in Ubuntu:
> Confirmed
> Status in “debconf” package in Ubuntu:
> Triaged
>
> Bug description:
> Upgrading packages that use debconf sometimes fail with the following
> error:
>
> debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by
> another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ambasa/+bug/349469/+subscriptions
>

--
'the more u give, the more that u get''

Nur Sabrina Binti Risman
Biochip and Medical SoC Laboratory,
Faculty of Biosciences and Medical Engineering,
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
Tel : [phone]

[kate dyson (kmdyson)]

LinkedIn
------------

Bug,

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.

- Kate

Kate Dyson
CEO at Poe and Stell's Dag Biscuits
British Columbia, Canada

Confirm that you know Kate Dyson:
https://www.linkedin.com/e/-iagsrj-hp5xp4xu-5v/isd/18675747669/AtTp8LgC/?hs=false&tok=2I69kUJC1WKm01

--
You are receiving Invitation to Connect emails. Click to unsubscribe:
http://www.linkedin.com/e/-iagsrj-hp5xp4xu-5v/qN7mur3mdZqLfU8msuzwOfWmBa82Nfnz-KUbBMQ/goo/349469%40bugs%2Elaunchpad%2Enet/20061/I6091572473_1/?hs=false&tok=3dO3-F_hRWKm01

(c) 2012 LinkedIn Corporation. 2029 Stierlin Ct, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

[drink (martin-espinoza)]

extlinux install hung so I killed dpkg. fuser -v /var/cache/debconf/config.dat returns nothing. but I'm still getting this error.

[David Roberts (david.roberts)]

I hit this issue during a 12.04 to 14.04 distribution upgrade. SInce it forces package installation to continue even when it encounters errors, I was left with a decent chunk of the system unconfigured (which I had to fix manually afterwards).

[Jake McGregor (jake-mcgregor86)]

I think I found something else that might be slightly related. I first came across this error when I was removing some packages remotely via ssh. There seems to be a problem with man-db. See the terminal output below from when I removed a package. Look carefully at the last few lines.

karatekid@MGD-Server:~$ sudo apt-get remove parole
[sudo] password for karatekid:
no talloc stackframe at ../source3/param/loadparm.c:4864, leaking memory
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  parole
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 3 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 1,800 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
(Reading database ... 231413 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing parole (0.6.1-0ubuntu3.1) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.10.1-0ubuntu2) ...
Processing triggers for bamfdaemon (0.5.1+14.04.20140409-0ubuntu1) ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf-2.index...
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 man-db (2.6.7.1-1) ...
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
dpkg: error processing package man-db (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
karatekid@MGD-Server:~$

[Muelli (ubuntu-bugs-auftrags-killer)]

I wanted to update my freshly installed 15.04.

[Ethan Brittain-Morby (ethanbmnz-deactivatedaccount)]

Confirmed on Trusty (14.04.2)

[Herminio (herminio-hernandezjr)]

It crashed my update of 15.04 MATE.

[Herminio (herminio-hernandezjr)]

I am going to have to re-install Ubuntu. This bug completely corrupted my system

[Gustav Ekner (gustav-ekner)]

Bug confirmed on 15.04

[Morten Grøftehauge (mortengroftehauge)]

I got this error on Ubuntu 14.04 after the "Add printer driver"-thingie crashed while trying to add openprinting-gutenprint.

I tried many things including the suggestions here but the solution was to

sudo apt-get install openprinting-gutenprint --reinstall

The problem was that the program was half-installed so apt-get install and apt-get remove both failed. So did apt-get upgrade. I found my solution here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/245477/half-installed-package-error

[Renate (yollywau)]

I wanted to install unetbootin. The error message came with extlinux

[Julian Brunt (julian-brunt)]

Unsubscribe

Sent from my Samsung device

-------- Original message --------
From: Renate <email address hidden>
Date: 27/08/2015 07:26 (GMT+00:00)
To: Julian Brunt <email address hidden>
Subject: [Bug 349469] Re: debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable

I wanted to install unetbootin. The error message came with extlinux

--
You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to a
duplicate bug report (787507).
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/349469

Title:
  debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by
  another process: Resource temporarily unavailable

Status in Ambasa:
  New
Status in Debconf:
  New
Status in aptdaemon package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in debconf package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  Upgrading packages that use debconf sometimes fail with the following
  error:

  debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by
  another process: Resource temporarily unavailable

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ambasa/+bug/349469/+subscriptions

[Vinicius (v1n1c1u3gdm)]

It happened to me when trying to install my Epson XP214 printer. I downloaded epson's official drivers

epson-inkjet-printer-escpr_1.6.0-1lsb3.2_amd64.deb
iscan_2.30.1-1~usb0.1.ltdl7_amd64.deb
iscan-data_1.36.0-1_all.deb
iscan-network-nt_1.1.1-1_amd64.deb

but epson-inkjet-printer-escpr_1.6.0-1lsb3.2_amd64.deb failed due to lsb being misconfigured. I tryed to repair it but it breaks everytime after a simple "apt-get install lsb" on 15.04

[Vinicius (v1n1c1u3gdm)]

The whole procedure

vinicius@vinicius-iron:~/Downloads/epson$ sudo dpkg -i epson-inkjet-printer-201304w_1.0.0-1lsb3.2_amd64.deb 5
[sudo] password for vinicius:
Selecting previously unselected package epson-inkjet-printer-201304w.
(Reading database ... 229356 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack epson-inkjet-printer-201304w_1.0.0-1lsb3.2_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking epson-inkjet-printer-201304w (1.0.0-1lsb3.2) ...
dpkg: error processing archive 5 (--install):
 cannot access archive: No such file or directory
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of epson-inkjet-printer-201304w:
 epson-inkjet-printer-201304w depends on lsb (>= 3.2); however:
  Package lsb is not installed.

dpkg: error processing package epson-inkjet-printer-201304w (--install):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 5
 epson-inkjet-printer-201304w
vinicius@vinicius-iron:~/Downloads/epson$ sudo apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  alien at debugedit lib32z1 libjpeg62 libpod-plainer-perl librpmbuild3
  librpmsign1 lsb lsb-core lsb-cxx lsb-desktop lsb-graphics lsb-languages
  lsb-multimedia lsb-printing lsb-security ncurses-term pax rpm
Suggested packages:
  rpm-i18n elfutils rpmlint rpm2html
Recommended packages:
  libqt3-mt
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  alien at debugedit lib32z1 libjpeg62 libpod-plainer-perl librpmbuild3
  librpmsign1 lsb lsb-core lsb-cxx lsb-desktop lsb-graphics lsb-languages
  lsb-multimedia lsb-printing lsb-security ncurses-term pax rpm
0 upgraded, 20 newly installed, 0 to remove and 3 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 806 kB of archives.
After this operation, 4.719 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 http://br.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main at amd64 3.1.16-1ubuntu1 [37,6 kB]
Get:2 http://br.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main ncurses-term all 5.9+20140712-2ubuntu2 [248 kB]
Get:3 http://br.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main pax amd64 1:20140703-2 [78,8 kB]
Get:4 http://br.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main librpmbuild3 amd64 4.11.3-1.1 [58,0 kB]
Get:5 http://br.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main librpmsign1 amd64 4.11.3-1.1 [8.062 B]
Get:6 http://br.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main debugedit amd64 4.11.3-1.1 [15,8 kB]
Get:7 http://br.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main rpm amd64 4.11.3-1.1 [115 kB]
Get:8 http://br.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main alien all 8.93 [54,0 kB]
Get:9 http://br.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main lib32z1 amd64 1:1.2.8.dfsg-2ubuntu1 [52,9 kB]
Get:10 http://br.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main lsb-security amd64 4.1+Debian11ubuntu8 [4.884 B]
Get:11 http://br.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main lsb-core amd64 4.1+Debian11ubuntu8 [27,4 kB]
Get:12 http://br.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main lsb-graphics amd64 4.1+Debian11ubuntu8 [2.894 B]
Get:13 http://br.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main lsb-cxx amd64 4.1+Debian11ubuntu8 [2.868 B]
Get:14 http://br.archive.ubuntu.com...

[Carlos García Ortiz (karliat)]

I was trying to install Printer drivers with the package dpkg when I found it

[Rune Philosof (olberd)]

As in #111 but on 15.10.
I got this error after the "Add printer driver"-UI hanged while trying to add openprinting-gutenprint.

This is the process locking the config.dat:
        |-aptd-+-aptd-+-dpkg
        | | `-sh---dpkg-preconfigu---dpkg-preconfigu

I had tried to install the printer driver three times.
So when I found this bug report two days later, I had to run `sudo fuser -vik /var/cache/debconf/config.dat` three times.
Apparently they were waiting in some queue and locked the file (and then hanged) when I kill the current locking process.

[Rune Philosof (olberd)]

Might it be because it wants to ask some debconf question but the graphical ui with the question doesn't show.
So it might be waiting for user input which the user has no way to give?

[Rune Philosof (olberd)]

However, when I next ran apt-get install, to install something else, it completed the install of lsb* and openprinting-gutenprint without any questions:
Setting up lsb-core (4.1+Debian11ubuntu8) ...
Setting up lsb-graphics (4.1+Debian11ubuntu8) ...
Setting up lsb-cxx (4.1+Debian11ubuntu8) ...
Setting up lsb-multimedia (4.1+Debian11ubuntu8) ...
Setting up lsb-desktop (4.1+Debian11ubuntu8) ...
Setting up lsb-printing (4.1+Debian11ubuntu8) ...
Setting up lsb-languages (4.1+Debian11ubuntu8) ...
Setting up lsb (4.1+Debian11ubuntu8) ...
Setting up openprinting-gutenprint (5.2.7-1lsb3.2) ...

[Brad Chesney (bradchesney79)]

If you want to see this in action I have a set of provisioning scripts that reprocuce the problem in an automated way...

On a brand new Debian 8.1 linode, if you run my script it will prompt you for a mysql password-- the thing is I tried to pre-set the mysql password with debconf.

git clone https://github.com/bradchesney79/2015DebianJessieWebserverProject.git
pushd 2015DebianJessieWebserverProject-master/
git checkout ef2dd6e396c0b88652c47c39f2cf692d562d9d23
popd
mkdir -p /root/bin
cp -R /root/2015DebianJessieWebserverProject-master/* /root/bin/
./root/bin/build-script.sh

The system will begin to build.

<CTRL> + <Z> the password prompt to get back to the command line.

I try to run the debconf command after the fact:

root@server/root/# echo "mysql-server mysql-server/root_password select passw0rd" | debconf-set-selections

<Output>
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
</Output>

root@server/root/# fuser -v /var/cache/debconf/config.dat

<Output>
                     USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
/var/cache/debconf/config.dat:
                     root 19165 F.... frontend
</Output>

root@server/root/# kill 19165

Succeeds.

root@server/root/# echo "mysql-server mysql-server/root_password select passw0rd" | debconf-set-selections

Succeeds.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

On Wed, Jan 20, 2016 at 03:42:23AM -0000, Brad Chesney wrote:
> If you want to see this in action I have a set of provisioning scripts
> that reprocuce the problem in an automated way...

> On a brand new Debian 8.1 linode, if you run my script it will prompt
> you for a mysql password-- the thing is I tried to pre-set the mysql
> password with debconf.

> git clone https://github.com/bradchesney79/2015DebianJessieWebserverProject.git
> pushd 2015DebianJessieWebserverProject-master/
> git checkout ef2dd6e396c0b88652c47c39f2cf692d562d9d23
> popd
> mkdir -p /root/bin
> cp -R /root/2015DebianJessieWebserverProject-master/* /root/bin/
> ./root/bin/build-script.sh

> The system will begin to build.

> <CTRL> + <Z> the password prompt to get back to the command line.

> I try to run the debconf command after the fact:

> root@server/root/# echo "mysql-server mysql-server/root_password select
> passw0rd" | debconf-set-selections

Ok, well, this is user error. The database *is* locked. The reason this
bug is open is because it's assumed that somehow, two packages are trying to
use the debconf database in parallel; if you're trying to access it yourself
while the debconf frontend is running, that's not a bug.

[Greg Rickson (greg-rickson)]

I assumed it was because I had both synaptic and Ubuntu Software center open At the same time ??

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 08:27:41AM -0000, Greg Rickson wrote:
> I assumed it was because I had both synaptic and Ubuntu Software center
> open At the same time ??

That is certainly the sort of thing that could lead to this locking problem,
yes.

[Biatu (megagamernet)]

it looks like if the Software Center is running, this will happen. After closing it, everything worked fine.

[hamdou (fallhamd)]

hello

[iGadget (igadget)]

What's up with all the spamming on Launchpad lately? Please, ban these accounts.
Unsubscribing to all notificiatons on this bug (also since despite it's affecting over 650 people and has a heat value of over 4000, it's not even assigned to anyone...).

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Yuniarti (arzn)]

debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
dpkg: error processing package shim-signed (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              Errors were encountered while processing:
 libssl1.0.0:amd64
 libssl1.0.0:i386
 php7.1-cli
 php7.1-fpm
 php7.1-dev
 libphp7.1-embed
 php7.0-cli
 php7.0-dev
 php7.0-fpm
 shim-signed
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

[John Howard (orthopteroid)]

The below command (installing some dotnet framework dependencies) kicked up this error (and "1 not fully installed or removed.").

Just prior to running this command the visual-studio-code editor had unsuccessfully tried to download and install mono-related packages.

-----

# sudo apt-get install dotnet-dev-1.0.4
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  guile-2.0-libs libv8-3.14.5 linux-image-4.4.0-83-generic weechat-core
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following additional packages will be installed:
  dotnet-hostfxr-1.0.1 dotnet-hostfxr-1.1.0 dotnet-sharedframework-microsoft.netcore.app-1.0.5
  dotnet-sharedframework-microsoft.netcore.app-1.1.2 linux-image-4.4.0-83-generic
Suggested packages:
  fdutils linux-doc-4.4.0 | linux-source-4.4.0 linux-headers-4.4.0-83-generic
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  dotnet-dev-1.0.4 dotnet-hostfxr-1.0.1 dotnet-hostfxr-1.1.0 dotnet-sharedframework-microsoft.netcore.app-1.0.5
  dotnet-sharedframework-microsoft.netcore.app-1.1.2
The following packages will be upgraded:
  linux-image-4.4.0-83-generic
1 upgraded, 5 newly installed, 0 to remove and 6 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 97.3 MB/119 MB of archives.
After this operation, 347 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
Get:1 https://apt-mo.trafficmanager.net/repos/dotnet-release xenial/main amd64 dotnet-hostfxr-1.1.0 amd64 1.1.0-1 [124 kB]
Get:2 https://apt-mo.trafficmanager.net/repos/dotnet-release xenial/main amd64 dotnet-sharedframework-microsoft.netcore.app-1.1.2 amd64 1.1.2-1 [22.9 MB]
Get:3 https://apt-mo.trafficmanager.net/repos/dotnet-release xenial/main amd64 dotnet-hostfxr-1.0.1 amd64 1.0.1-1 [123 kB]
Get:4 https://apt-mo.trafficmanager.net/repos/dotnet-release xenial/main amd64 dotnet-sharedframework-microsoft.netcore.app-1.0.5 amd64 1.0.5-1 [22.6 MB]
Get:5 https://apt-mo.trafficmanager.net/repos/dotnet-release xenial/main amd64 dotnet-dev-1.0.4 amd64 1.0.4-1 [51.5 MB]
Fetched 97.3 MB in 27s (3,486 kB/s)
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
(Reading database ... 210651 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../linux-image-4.4.0-83-generic_4.4.0-83.106_amd64.deb ...
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-4.4.0-83-generic_4.4.0-83.106_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1
Examining /etc/kernel/postrm.d .
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs-tools 4.4.0-83-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-83-generic
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub 4.4.0-83-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-83-generic
Selecting previously unselected package dotnet-hostfxr-1.1....

[Eddie Losper (losper-eddie)]

DEAR STEVE,

I DON'T KNO'W WHY THIS IS STIL ON MY COMPUTER, BECAUSE I DON'T USE UBUNTU ANYMORE.
I AM USING VODAFONE.

THIS CAN BE DELETED FROM MY COMPUTER PLEASE.

REGARDS,

EDDIE LOSPER

From: Steve Langasek
Date: 2017-07-07 15:18
To: losper.eddie
Subject: [Bug 349469] Re: debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
** Changed in: debconf (Ubuntu)
     Assignee: MAYANK SHUKLA (mayankgonda) => (unassigned)

--
You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to
Aptdaemon.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/349469

Title:
  debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by
  another process: Resource temporarily unavailable

Status in Aptdaemon:
  Confirmed
Status in Debconf:
  New
Status in aptdaemon package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged
Status in debconf package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  Upgrading packages that use debconf sometimes fail with the following
  error:

  debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by
  another process: Resource temporarily unavailable

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/aptdaemon/+bug/349469/+subscriptions

[Adriano Batista Prieto (prietoab)]

Complementing #8 and #11:

sudo fuser -v /var/cache/debconf/config.dat returned nothing.

So, I made a backup of the files contained in /var/cache/debconf/ and have deleted all the original files in the same directory. After that, I've "restored" the backup and the upgrade worked fine.

[dino99 (9d9)]

Colin, Steve

please do something about the message output that newbies does not understand.

"locked by another process" that says it all; its enough for experienced users, but let think the others there is a bug. This is not a bug indeed, but a lack of user's knowledge.

"Resource temporarily unavailable" might not be scary for the crowd, but some should possibly prefer something more informative, like "please close first the other package manager, then you will be able to continue"

[tritonus (prestosfz)]

windows 10 lost ! Ubuntu begun with problems to install ! Ubuntu hav e problems to boot at the beginning! CIAO hans

[Ramshad Abdulraheem (datablackpanther)]

Simply Reload the system will work

[Rayden Joshua Britto (rayden-britto05)]

ibpam0g

[RICARDO ALEXIS RESTREPO RENGIFO (richard618921)]

Hello I am richard618921. I need to solve the error message debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable. What can I do ???