Comment 7 for bug 668846

Ryan, showing a notification bubble might be frustrating if there's a way that the computer can help you solve the problem. It might also be frustrating if there's nothing you can do about the problem. I think we should instead be more interactive, offering to close Synaptic for you to unblock. And it should be Aptdaemon that does this, so that Software Updater and the Dash also benefit.

Sebastian, Is there a way to tell whether it is Synaptic, or another program (such as apt-get), that has the dpkg lock?

If so, would it make sense for aptdaemon to detect whether it is an application with a .desktop file that has the lock, and offer to close it if it is?

And if not, would it make sense to special-case Synaptic, detecting whether it is open and offering to close it?

(Please assign back to me when these questions are answered. Thanks!)