[Wolves] How do I unlock apt get?

[Adam Sweet]

--- Kevanf1 <kevanf1 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Ok, it is the gui updater on Kubuntu 7.10 which is
> of course 'adept'.
> It locked up when I tried to install Java, I know...
>  but I needed it
> as I was going through the router logs and Firefox
> asked for the Java
> plug in so I fired up adept....blah, blah, blah. 
> That didn't work and
> threw up an error stating that it would break
> something if it
> continued to install.  I cam out of that and tried
> again only to find
> it locked.  I did find that the same had happened to
> somebody else
> when they tried to install Java (not the latest
> version either).
> Anyway, I know that there is a very simply command
> that is entered at
> the CLI that will release apt and subsequently
> adept.  I just can't
> find it :-(  I thought somebody had mentioned it on
> here before?
> Maybe I'm wrong?  Until I can unlock it I can't
> update my Kubuntu box
> and hence I am open to security vulnerabilites :-(

What exactly do the error messages say? An application
locking up and unlocking an application are 2
different things. The subtleties in the wording of the
message may help us understand what the problem is.
Describing the problem without including the error
messages only gives us your understanding of what's
happening, which may not be correct.

I'm assuming that adept is a front end to apt, rather
than aptitude or dpkg, so you could close adept after
your error message and so:

ps ax | grep apt

or

ps ax | grep adept

on the command line. This will show you if any
processes are clinging to apt or adept. Also, try the
following:

lsof | grep apt

or

lsof | grep adept

(lsof = LiSt Open Files)

after closing adept following your error. This will
tell you if there are any files open with apt or adept
in the filename or directory path.

There's a chance you will see something in one of the
above commands if there is something clinging to apt
or adept, grep won't tell you if there are no results.
If it's a lock file left open after adept has closed
then it may be safe to remove it, but first you need
to check whether any apt processes are using it, lsof
and ps should have told you this, but we'll carry on
anyway.

First try running apt-get manually:

sudo apt-get update

What does it say? Anything about another apt process
running?

Try installing java (I assume you want the
not-yet-Free Sun Java runtime and plugin):

sudo apt-get install sun-java5-jre sun-java-plugin

It will either install it for you or throw you an
error. If it somes back with an error, tell us what it
is.

Either way, you have just learned how to see a list of
running processes, list open files and grep them for
certain phrases :)

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