[SOLVED] Discover updates freezing and terminal install cannot unlock

[sparxz]

Hi
My first post. Installed yesterday, and sending this post from Kubuntu 18.04,
which I installed yesterday.
Indication that updates are available. But...
"Discover" Updates freezing & terminal install cannot unlock.

I now have a system that is stuck, and cannot update, or add new software too.

Any ideas ? Thanks.

[Snowhog]

Open a konsole.

Type: sudo rm /var/cache/apt/archives/lock

Then type: sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

Do yourself a favor and don't use Discover. It isn't a Package Manager (it's a Package Store) and doesn't handle everything a real Package Manager does (Muon Package Manager).

[sparxz]

Thanks,
This was the odd error I was getting:

<a href="https://imgur.com/fQBnpBG"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/fQBnpBG.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

But still stuck with a Muron long hang.

<a href="https://imgur.com/uDU1gdS"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/uDU1gdS.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

[Snowhog]

Follow the instructions given in the image you posted, i.e., in a konsole type: sudo dpkg --configure -a

[sparxz]

I am getting this:

SP@SP-Kubuntu-Desktop:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
[sudo] password for SP:
dpkg: error: dpkg status database is locked by another process
SP@SP-Kubuntu-Desktop:~$

[Snowhog]

Close Discover then run the commands.

[sparxz]

Checked System Monitor to make sure Discover is closed.

Rerunning again in sequence.

SP@SP-Kubuntu-Desktop:~$ sudo rm /var/cache/apt/archives/lock
rm: cannot remove '/var/cache/apt/archives/lock': No such file or directory
SP@SP-Kubuntu-Desktop:~$ sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/apt/lists/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock directory /var/lib/apt/lists/
SP@SP-Kubuntu-Desktop:~$ sudo rm /var/cache/apt/archives/lock
[sudo] password for SP:
rm: cannot remove '/var/cache/apt/archives/lock': No such file or directory
SP@SP-Kubuntu-Desktop:~$ sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/apt/lists/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock directory /var/lib/apt/lists/
SP@SP-Kubuntu-Desktop:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
dpkg: error: dpkg status database is locked by another process
SP@SP-Kubuntu-Desktop:~$

[sparxz]

o/p from TOP:

15593 root 20 0 438604 356516 7180 R 94.4 3.1 80:33.31 frontend
1214 root 20 0 923792 128872 97956 S 5.6 1.1 12:14.74 Xorg
2151 sp 20 0 3701184 128404 95788 S 5.6 1.1 12:41.42 kwin_x11
16694 sp 20 0 6993376 535632 167528 S 5.0 4.7 1:26.17 amarok
5683 sp 20 0 1051884 89276 74264 S 3.6 0.8 0:04.69 konsole
2164 sp 20 0 5480552 438356 152484 S 3.0 3.8 11:22.31 plasmashell
2210 sp 9 -11 3338756 15172 11320 S 3.0 0.1 2:12.75 pulseaudio
3735 sp 20 0 2406900 601076 131824 S 2.0 5.2 12:03.89 Web Content
15595 root 20 0 18508 3164 2804 S 1.3 0.0 2:21.24 matlab-support.
17144 sp 20 0 2053812 116824 90116 S 1.3 1.0 0:15.68 ksysguard
4590 sp 20 0 2465308 627392 123288 S 1.0 5.5 11:19.12 Web Content
3770 sp 20 0 2719112 882308 119600 S 0.7 7.7 13:31.76 Web Content
3847 sp 20 0 2437792 604988 155700 S 0.7 5.3 14:09.13 Web Content
13418 root 20 0 491324 68124 40272 S 0.7 0.6 1:17.05 QThread
2255 sp 20 0 1280432 72700 59048 S 0.3 0.6 0:10.80 owncloud
2426 sp 20 0 1497128 222436 18864 S 0.3 1.9 0:28.93 mysqld
3633 sp 20 0 3479496 692288 203000 S 0.3 6.0 33:05.25 firefox
17036 root 20 0 0 0 0 I 0.3 0.0 0:01.09 kworker/u8:3
17247 sp 20 0 41908 3824 3196 R 0.3 0.0 0:00.05 top
1 root 20 0 160396 9516 6548 S 0.0 0.1 0:03.70 systemd
2 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kthreadd
6 root 0 -20 0 0 0 I 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 mm_percpu_wq
7 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:01.26 ksoftirqd/0
8 root 20 0 0 0 0 I 0.0 0.0 0:16.90 rcu_sched
9 root 20 0 0 0 0 I 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 rcu_bh
10 root rt 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.03 migration/0
11 root rt 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.05 watchdog/0
12 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 cpuhp/0
13 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 cpuhp/1
14 root rt 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.05 watchdog/1
15 root rt 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.03 migration/1
16 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.89 ksoftirqd/1
19 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kdevtmpfs
20 root 0 -20 0 0 0 I 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 netns
21 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 rcu_tasks_kthre
22 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kauditd
25 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.02 khungtaskd
26 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 oom_reaper
27 root 0 -20 0 0 0 I 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 writeback
28 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kcompactd0
29 root 25 5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 ksmd
30 root 39 19 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 khugepaged
31 root 0 -20 0 0 0 I 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 crypto
32 root 0 -20 0 0 0 I 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kintegrityd
33 root 0 -20 0 0 0 I 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kblockd
34 root 0 -20 0 0 0 I 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 ata_sff
35 root 0 -20 0 0 0 I 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 md
36 root 0 -20 0 0 0 I 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 edac-poller
37 root 0 -20 0 0 0 I 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 devfreq_wq
38 root 0 -20 0 0 0 I 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 watchdogd
41 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kswapd0
42 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 ecryptfs-kthrea
84 root 0 -20 0 0 0 I 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kthrotld
85 root 0 -20 0 0 0 I 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 acpi_thermal_pm

[Snowhog]

Checked System Monitor to make sure Discover is closed.

Rerunning again in sequence.

SP@SP-Kubuntu-Desktop:~$ sudo rm /var/cache/apt/archives/lock
rm: cannot remove '/var/cache/apt/archives/lock': No such file or directory
SP@SP-Kubuntu-Desktop:~$ sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/apt/lists/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock directory /var/lib/apt/lists/
SP@SP-Kubuntu-Desktop:~$ sudo rm /var/cache/apt/archives/lock
[sudo] password for SP:
rm: cannot remove '/var/cache/apt/archives/lock': No such file or directory
SP@SP-Kubuntu-Desktop:~$ sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/apt/lists/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock directory /var/lib/apt/lists/
SP@SP-Kubuntu-Desktop:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
dpkg: error: dpkg status database is locked by another process
SP@SP-Kubuntu-Desktop:~$

Ah, okay. In the konsole, type: sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/lock

Then type: sudo dpkg --configure -a

IF the above completes without any further errors, then type: sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

[sparxz]

This is what I get coming up, thanks.

SP@SP-Kubuntu-Desktop:~$ sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/lock
[sudo] password for SP:
SP@SP-Kubuntu-Desktop:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
dpkg: error: dpkg status database is locked by another process
SP@SP-Kubuntu-Desktop:~$

Not sure what the other process is. Any ideas tom TOP output ?

[Snowhog]

Easiest way is to simply logout and reboot. Then try again.

[sparxz]

Hi,

I rebooted before I posted original question, and it did not work.

But, I have rebooted now again after you suggested, and everything is working again.

Do not understand, but glad working again.

Thanks so much for your help.

[GreyGeek]

As I understand it Discover uses a separate thread (chuck of memory) for each package you add or remove. When Discover crashes it sometimes orphaned threads are left running and that keeps the lock from being deleted. If rm'ing the lock doesn't delete it then (besides using ksysmon) then rebooting is the quickest solution to clear the lock.

Like Snowhog said, Discover isn't a package manager. Install muon if it isn't on your system and then use muon to purge discover and get rid of it.