"debconf: DbDriver "config": config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable" while installing packages

Question

I'm trying to install the flashybrid but when I enter the apt-get install flashybrid command, I get this error:

root@user-desktop:/home/user# apt-get install flashybrid
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
flashybrid is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0B of additional disk space will be used.
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
Setting up flashybrid (0.15+nmu2) ...
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
dpkg: error processing flashybrid (--configure):
subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
flashybrid
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

I also tried this one to find what is already using that file:

root@user-desktop:/home/user# lsof | grep /var/cache/debconf/config.dat
lsof: WARNING: can't stat() fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon file system /home/user/.gvfs
Output information may be incomplete.
dpkg-prec 4672 root 4rW REG 8,6 39658 1697827 /var/cache/debconf/config.dat

But I don't know how to fix this.

score 285 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 07 '14 at 17:13

285

A solution to this locking problem is detailed in the wiki:

sudo fuser -v /var/cache/debconf/config.dat

Will show you what process is holding the lock:

                     USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
/var/cache/debconf/config.dat:
                     root      18210 F.... dpkg-preconfigu

Then you simply need to note down the PID and kill it like so:

sudo kill PID
sudo kill -9 PID  # if the first doesn't work

edited Oct 07 '14 at 17:13

Trevor Robinson

268

answered Nov 22 '13 at 09:38

Sayed Jalil Hassan

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This worked fantastic! Thanks a bunch, I didn't know of 'fuser'! – stolsvik Jan 01 '14 at 22:54
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fuser also has the option switch -k which kills the found process that uses the file: sudo fuser -v -k /var/cache/debconf/config.dat will kill the process right away – minni Dec 30 '15 at 09:30
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This should be selected as best answer. – Arda Jan 19 '18 at 21:12
Worked for me when an upgrade of Debian from Stretch to Buster accidentally got backgrounded. – Adambean Jul 19 '19 at 18:57
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That worked perfectly thanks. However the process holds the file after restart and I have to manually kill it after every restart. Do you have any idea? – Zura Sekhniashvili Aug 24 '20 at 04:30
this worked well thank you so much, brother, I just learned a new thing called fuser! – krishna kakade Feb 20 '21 at 08:18
@ZuraSekhniashvili same with me~ – Rγσ ξηg Lιαη Ημ 雷欧 Mar 28 '22 at 17:02
For me, the process holding the lock was /usr/sbin/needrestart. Amusingly enough, I was trying to run that command myself and was being blocked. I had a network-interrupted apt-get upgrade and had only been looking for apt-get processes to kill. It hadn't occurred to me to look for needrestart as well. – Christopher Schultz Oct 24 '22 at 14:59

score 126 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 18 '17 at 11:29

126

This is more simple one command

I just did:

sudo rm /var/cache/debconf/*.dat

After I run the apt-get install and (I was installing curl ) and it worked restored the db manual pages.

PS: I removed something with apt-get and I did have this problem. but solved it simply thank also to @rajagenupula

edited Mar 18 '17 at 11:29

Tshilidzi Mudau

4,173

answered Oct 04 '13 at 01:37

ucefkh

1,780

I used sudo \rm -v /var/cache/debconf/*.dat – Mark Stewart Jan 27 '14 at 05:03
31

Don't do this... you can break your system. The correct answer is to use fuser and kill the process, as in Sayed's answer below. – kitti Oct 29 '15 at 18:30
9

Um, don't delete that. Just kill the process that has the file opened. – jorfus Dec 16 '16 at 18:10
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This could be very dangerous thing to do. Please see answer below – DivinesLight Jan 27 '17 at 09:34
Can someone explain what config.dat, passwords.dat and templates.dat are? These are the three files the command here will delete. I ended up using the other answer below, but slightly curious why you'd need to delete all three files here. – AnnanFay Mar 03 '17 at 16:57
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In my case, there was no process running, so this was the only solution that worked. – MacroMan Aug 17 '18 at 08:13
Thanks for this, worked for me, i was updating openssh-server – iamkingsleyf Aug 22 '18 at 20:31
It works fine for me on Debian9 Stretch – Murilo Melo Apr 09 '19 at 13:29
worked for me, using Kali GNU/Linux Rolling 2022.3 thanks. – bl3ssedc0de Nov 03 '22 at 08:08

score 17 · Answer 3 · edited May 13 '13 at 19:32

17

open your terminal
open the location /var/cache/debconf with gksu nautilus
move (cut/paste) all of the .dat files to another backup directory.
attempt to run again (will likely get a different error)
restore those dat files from the aforementioned backup directory.
Then try again what you were doing (should work this time).

edited May 13 '13 at 19:32

Kijewski

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answered May 15 '12 at 10:36

Raja G

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I had a similar problem and I just deleted all the files in the debconf folder. – Agmenor Jul 16 '12 at 22:25
i said there at point 3 . a file with password and with extension . ok now what you're getting . could you post them here by pastebin link . – Raja G Jul 17 '12 at 13:07
same problem, I needed to remove all files in debconf folder – equivalent8 Nov 07 '12 at 12:11
i am still getting the error debconf: apt-extracttemplates failed: No such file or directory apt-extracttemplates failed – Nov 08 '12 at 09:20
1

I was getting really quite angry, saw your answer and suddenly there's progress. Thank you. – David Carboni Feb 01 '14 at 11:00

score 15 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 01 '15 at 23:40

15

sudo fuser -vik /var/cache/debconf/config.dat

Will display the process and ask if you want to terminate it.

answered Mar 01 '15 at 23:40

coderpatros

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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 13 '20 at 22:12

If you are getting this error in an unattended script, make sure you don't accidentally have two consecutive apt-get upgrade or apt-get dist-upgrade commands running, otherwise the second command can fail to obtain the lock and thus end up in this error.

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 01 '13 at 01:50

0

There is a process still running blocking debconf. You should wait until it finish. Or find out how it got stuck, since in some cases it will be try to ask you a question but since you don't have a scope to see it. If you wait sometime and things doesn't change you may need to reboot the system, or terminate the process.

sudo kill 4672

or

sudo killall dpkg-prec

This will assure you that your database will not get damaged and will prevent further problems.

answered Nov 01 '13 at 01:50

Braiam

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I think it's pointless to use process id 4672 in your first command example. Somebody might use that command as-is, but it won't work as he would very likely have a different process id. – juzzlin Nov 06 '13 at 16:56
@user205301 that's what the second is for ;) – Braiam Nov 06 '13 at 17:09

"debconf: DbDriver "config": config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable" while installing packages

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