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N0rbert
Asked: 2019-02-02 01:39:59 +0800 CST

What process created the /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend file in Ubuntu?

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I have just booted my clean Ubuntu 18.04 LTS VM and tried to install some application with sudo apt install.

But got error message:

E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to acquire the dpkg frontend lock (/var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend), is another process using it?

What process created the /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend file in Ubuntu?
How to gently stop it and take manual control on APT?

package-management dpkg apt

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    As was recommended in comments - I have checked the owner of the file

    $ sudo fuser -v /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend
                     USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
/var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend:
                     root       2112 F.... unattended-upgr

$ ps aux | grep 2112
root      2112 66.5  8.1 366108 113508 ?       Sl   13:03   0:28 /usr/bin/python3 /usr/bin/unattended-upgrade --download-only

$ dpkg -S /usr/bin/unattended-upgrade
unattended-upgrades: /usr/bin/unattended-upgrade

    So this file was created by /usr/bin/unattended-upgrade from unattended-upgrades package. I can kill it with:

    sudo kill -KILL 2112

    and take control with

    sudo apt install -f
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-purge unattended-upgrades

    as I forgot to purge it on this VM.

    Note: do not purge unattended upgrades on your system if unsure. It needs some time to finish (depends on internet connection speed and disk speed) and then you can use APT as usual.

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