I am hoping someone can help me to identify the problem I'm experiencing and hopefully explain why this might have occurred in the first place.
When I try to install/update/upgrade anything I'm getting the following error:
~$ sudo apt-get upgrade
[sudo] password for dod:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 0 not to upgrade.
20 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
Setting up libssl1.1:amd64 (1.1.1f-1ubuntu2.12) ...
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
dpkg: error processing package libssl1.1:amd64 (--configure):
installed libssl1.1:amd64 package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
Setting up libssl1.1:i386 (1.1.1f-1ubuntu2.12) ...
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
dpkg: error processing package libssl1.1:i386 (--configure):
installed libssl1.1:i386 package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-headers-5.13.0-37-generic:
linux-headers-5.13.0-37-generic depends on libssl1.1 (>= 1.1.0); however:
Package libssl1.1:amd64 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing package linux-headers-5.13.0-37-generic (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Setting up tex-common (6.13) ...
No apport report written because the error message indicates it's a follow-up error from a previous failure.
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
dpkg: error processing package tex-common (--configure):
installed tex-common package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-headers-generic-hwe-20.04:
linux-headers-generic-hwe-20.04 depends on linux-headers-5.13.0-37-generic; however:
Package linux-headers-5.13.0-37-generic is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing package linux-headers-generic-hwe-20.04 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of texlive-latex-base:
texlive-latex-base depends on tex-common (>= 6.13); however:
Package tex-common is not configured yet.
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
dpkg: error processing package texlive-latex-base (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Setting up linux-modules-nvidia-470-5.13.0-37-generic (5.13.0-37.42~20.04.1) ...
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
dpkg: error processing package linux-modules-nvidia-470-5.13.0-37-generic (--configure):
installed linux-modules-nvidia-470-5.13.0-37-generic package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libssl-dev:amd64:
libssl-dev:amd64 depends on libssl1.1 (= 1.1.1f-1ubuntu2.12); however:
Package libssl1.1:amd64 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing package libssl-dev:amd64 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of texlive-binaries:
texlive-binaries depends on tex-common (>= 6); however:
Package tex-common is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing package texlive-binaries (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of lmodern:
lmodern depends on tex-common (>= 6); however:
Package tex-common is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing package lmodern (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of virtualbox:
virtualbox depends on libssl1.1 (>= 1.1.1); however:
Package libssl1.1:amd64 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing package virtualbox (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of bind9-dnsutils:
bind9-dnsutils depends on libssl1.1 (>= 1.1.0); however:
Package libssl1.1:amd64 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing package bind9-dnsutils (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-generic-hwe-20.04:
linux-generic-hwe-20.04 depends on linux-headers-generic-hwe-20.04 (= 5.13.0.37.42~20.04.22); however:
Package linux-headers-generic-hwe-20.04 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing package linux-generic-hwe-20.04 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
Setting up virtualbox-dkms (6.1.32-dfsg-1~ubuntu1.20.04.1) ...
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
dpkg: error processing package virtualbox-dkms (--configure):
installed virtualbox-dkms package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of bind9-host:
bind9-host depends on libssl1.1 (>= 1.1.0); however:
Package libssl1.1:amd64 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing package bind9-host (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of openssl:
openssl depends on libssl1.1 (>= 1.1.1); however:
Package libssl1.1:amd64 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing package openssl (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of texlive-base:
texlive-base depends on tex-common (>= 6.13); however:
Package tex-common is not configured yet.
texlive-base depends on texlive-binaries (>= 2019.20190605); however:
Package texlive-binaries is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing package texlive-base (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of bind9-libs:amd64:
bind9-libs:amd64 depends on libssl1.1 (>= 1.1.1); however:
Package libssl1.1:amd64 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing package bind9-libs:amd64 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-modules-nvidia-470-generic-hwe-20.04:
linux-modules-nvidia-470-generic-hwe-20.04 depends on linux-modules-nvidia-470-5.13.0-37-generic (= 5.13.0-37.42~20.04.1); however:
Package linux-modules-nvidia-470-5.13.0-37-generic is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing package linux-modules-nvidia-470-generic-hwe-20.04 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of virtualbox-qt:
virtualbox-qt depends on virtualbox (= 6.1.32-dfsg-1~ubuntu1.20.04.1); however:
Package virtualbox is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing package virtualbox-qt (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.31-0ubuntu9.7) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
libssl1.1:amd64
libssl1.1:i386
linux-headers-5.13.0-37-generic
tex-common
linux-headers-generic-hwe-20.04
texlive-latex-base
linux-modules-nvidia-470-5.13.0-37-generic
libssl-dev:amd64
texlive-binaries
lmodern
virtualbox
bind9-dnsutils
linux-generic-hwe-20.04
virtualbox-dkms
bind9-host
openssl
texlive-base
bind9-libs:amd64
linux-modules-nvidia-470-generic-hwe-20.04
virtualbox-qt
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
The list of software in which Errors are encountered increases as I try to solve the problem and install additional software.
I have tried a number of fixes laid out in this good article https://journalxtra.com/linux/fixing-the-dreaded-errors-were-encountered-while-processing-errors/ but so far nothing has worked. Each attempt seems to be halted by the errors and the entire process seems to be a vicious circle.
Can someone please help me to solve this problem? I am not a newbie with Linux by any means but this is beyond my capabilities.
Any help or advise would be most welcome.