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

[Bret Busby]

On 13/11/2022 07:53, J. Paul Bissonnette wrote:
> 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)
>> .................
>>
>>
> 
> 

Not synaptic.

The only other possible running program, is that the System Update 
applet shows that updates are available, but, the same pid applies after 
rebooting and not manually loading any program, other than the
sudo update
and then sudo full upgrade
.

So, the lock and the pid are both preserved, regardless of what happens, 
and, through a shutdown and reboot (shutdown -r)

..
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
(UTC+0800)
..............