How do I clear a lock so as to allow an upgrade

[J. Paul Bissonnette]

Is another program like synaptic running?

On Sun, 13 Nov 2022 07:50:19 +0800
bret at busby.net wrote:

> Hello.
> 
> Having run
> sudo apt update
> when I try to run
> sudo apt full-upgrade -y
> I get the following error.
> 
> "
> Sun Nov 13 07:33:46 bret at bret-OptiPlex-9030-AIO:~$sudo apt
> full-upgrade -y Waiting for cache lock: Could not get lock
> /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend. It is held by process 48429 (apt)
> Waiting for cache lock: Could not get lock
> /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend. It is held by process 48429 (apt)
> Waiting for cache lock: Could not get lock
> /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend. It is held by process 48429 (apt)
> Waiting for cache lock: Could not get lock
> /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend. It is held by process 48429 (apt)
> Waiting for cache lock: Could not get lock
> /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend. It is held by process 48429 (apt)
> Waiting for cache lock: Could not get lock
> /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend. It is held by process 48429 (apt)
> ^Citing for cache lock: Could not get lock
> /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend. It is held by process 48429 (apt)... 6s
> Sun Nov 13 07:34:28 bret at bret-OptiPlex-9030-AIO:~$^C
> "
> 
> How do I clear the lock, so as to allow the upgrade to proceed?
> 
> I have run
> sudo kill 48429
> and that did not fix the problem, and I have rebooted the system, and 
> that did not clear the lock.
> 
> Also,
> 
> "
> Sun Nov 13 07:44:11 bret at bret-OptiPlex-9030-AIO:~$sudo kill -9 48429
> Sun Nov 13 07:44:23 bret at bret-OptiPlex-9030-AIO:~$ps -ax | grep 48429
>    48429 pts/1    Z      0:00 [apt] <defunct>
>   248169 pts/3    S+     0:00 grep --color=auto 48429
> Sun Nov 13 07:44:28 bret at bret-OptiPlex-9030-AIO:~$
> "
> 
> I assume that the 'Z' means zombie, as it is one of the undead, and 
> cannot be killed (I understand that kill -9 is the penultimate kill 
> command; the kill of last resort, like a nuke).
> 
> So, apart from reinstalling the system, to get to do an upgrade, how
> do I clear the lock?
> 
> Thank you in anticipation.
> ..
> Bret Busby
> Armadale
> Western Australia
> (UTC+0800)
> .................
> 
>