I wanted to upgrade with aptitude, but it failed with the error
"dpkg: error: dpkg frontend lock is locked by another process".
In the terminal:
Performing actions...
Retrieving bug reports... Done
Parsing Found/Fixed information... Done
Retrieving bug reports... Done
Parsing Found/Fixed information... Done
Reading changelogs... Done
apt-listchanges: Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
Extracting templates from packages: 100%
Preconfiguring packages ...
(Reading database ... 588715 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../bsdutils_1%3a2.34-0.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking bsdutils (1:2.34-0.1) over (1:2.33.1-0.1) ...
Setting up bsdutils (1:2.34-0.1) ...
(Reading database ... 588715 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../0-uuid-dev_2.34-0.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking uuid-dev:amd64 (2.34-0.1) over (2.33.1-0.1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../1-libuuid1_2.34-0.1_amd64.deb ...
De-configuring libuuid1:i386 (2.33.1-0.1) ...
Unpacking libuuid1:amd64 (2.34-0.1) over (2.33.1-0.1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../2-libuuid1_2.34-0.1_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libuuid1:i386 (2.34-0.1) over (2.33.1-0.1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../3-libblkid-dev_2.34-0.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libblkid-dev:amd64 (2.34-0.1) over (2.33.1-0.1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../4-libblkid1_2.34-0.1_i386.deb ...
De-configuring libblkid1:amd64 (2.33.1-0.1) ...
Unpacking libblkid1:i386 (2.34-0.1) over (2.33.1-0.1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../5-libblkid1_2.34-0.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libblkid1:amd64 (2.34-0.1) over (2.33.1-0.1) ...
Setting up libblkid1:amd64 (2.34-0.1) ...
Setting up libblkid1:i386 (2.34-0.1) ...
(Reading database ... 588715 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libmount-dev_2.34-0.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libmount-dev:amd64 (2.34-0.1) over (2.33.1-0.1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../libmount1_2.34-0.1_amd64.deb ...
De-configuring libmount1:i386 (2.33.1-0.1) ...
Unpacking libmount1:amd64 (2.34-0.1) over (2.33.1-0.1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../libmount1_2.34-0.1_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libmount1:i386 (2.34-0.1) over (2.33.1-0.1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../libsmartcols1_2.34-0.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libsmartcols1:amd64 (2.34-0.1) over (2.33.1-0.1) ...
Setting up libsmartcols1:amd64 (2.34-0.1) ...
(Reading database ... 588715 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libfdisk1_2.34-0.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libfdisk1:amd64 (2.34-0.1) over (2.33.1-0.1) ...
Setting up libuuid1:amd64 (2.34-0.1) ...
Setting up libuuid1:i386 (2.34-0.1) ...
Setting up libfdisk1:amd64 (2.34-0.1) ...
(Reading database ... 588715 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../fdisk_2.34-0.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking fdisk (2.34-0.1) over (2.33.1-0.1) ...
Setting up libmount1:amd64 (2.34-0.1) ...
Setting up libmount1:i386 (2.34-0.1) ...
Setting up fdisk (2.34-0.1) ...
(Reading database ... 588715 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../util-linux_2.34-0.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking util-linux (2.34-0.1) over (2.33.1-0.1) ...
dpkg: error: dpkg frontend lock is locked by another process
====== How can you help? (doc: https://wiki.debian.org/how-can-i-help ) ======
New bugs where assistance is requested (tagged 'help'):
- bsdutils - https://bugs.debian.org/198559 - script should set an environment variable that shells can use
- bsdutils - https://bugs.debian.org/254199 - /usr/bin/script: please consider setting an envvar
- mount - https://bugs.debian.org/863373 - mount: option to use losetup -P when mounting
- mount - https://bugs.debian.org/870364 - say "... is already mounted rw elsewhere. Cannot mount ro."
- mount - https://bugs.debian.org/907536 - Update fstab template & docs to mention systemctl daemon-reload
----- Show old opportunities as well as new ones: how-can-i-help --old -----
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)
Setting up uuid-dev:amd64 (2.34-0.1) ...
Setting up util-linux (2.34-0.1) ...
Setting up libblkid-dev:amd64 (2.34-0.1) ...
Setting up libmount-dev:amd64 (2.34-0.1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.28-10) ...
Processing triggers for systemd (241-7) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.5-2) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.62) ...
Press Return to continue, 'q' followed by Return to quit.
Note: I was not using dpkg/aptitude/... in another terminal.
/var/log/dpkg.log shows:
[...]
2019-07-29 13:19:11 upgrade util-linux:amd64 2.33.1-0.1 2.34-0.1
2019-07-29 13:19:11 status half-configured util-linux:amd64 2.33.1-0.1
2019-07-29 13:19:11 status unpacked util-linux:amd64 2.33.1-0.1
2019-07-29 13:19:11 status half-installed util-linux:amd64 2.33.1-0.1
2019-07-29 13:19:11 status triggers-pending systemd:amd64 241-7
2019-07-29 13:19:11 status triggers-pending mime-support:all 3.62
2019-07-29 13:19:12 status unpacked util-linux:amd64 2.34-0.1
2019-07-29 13:19:15 startup packages configure
2019-07-29 13:19:15 configure uuid-dev:amd64 2.34-0.1 <none>
[...]
Thus the error occurred around 13:19:12 (BTW, error messages should
include the date/time).
In "journalctl -b" logs, I can see:
Jul 29 13:19:12 cventin systemd[1]: Reloading.
Jul 29 13:19:12 cventin systemd[1]: Starting Daily apt download activities...
Jul 29 13:19:13 cventin systemd[1]: apt-daily.service: Succeeded.
Jul 29 13:19:13 cventin systemd[1]: Started Daily apt download activities.
Jul 29 13:19:15 cventin systemd[1]: Reloading.
Jul 29 13:19:15 cventin systemd[1]: Reloading.
Jul 29 13:19:16 cventin systemd[1]: Reloading.
I can see other "Starting Daily apt download activities...", and
another one also occurred just before "startup packages configure":
Jul 23 10:19:45 cventin systemd[1]: Starting Daily apt download activities...
2019-07-23 10:19:46 startup packages configure
So I would say that this is not just random.
In any case, the lock should start at the beginning of the upgrade
so that the upgrade cannot be interrupted.