sudo apt-get update cancelled half way through, now cannot run sudo apt-get update

Question

I'm a new user of ubuntu. It's been working fairly well so far. Today I've tried doing 'sudo apt-get update' and it's freezing after fetching data. This is the output:

sudo apt-get update 
Hit:1 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Hit:2 http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/sublime-text-3/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Get:3 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease [94.5 kB]    
Hit:4 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease                     
Hit:5 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease
Get:6 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports InRelease [92.2 kB]
Fetched 187 kB in 0s (225 kB/s)

Using sudo apt-get clean and then sudo apt-get update, I get the following issue:

E: Could not get lock /var/lib/apt/lists/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock directory /var/lib/apt/lists/

Using sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/lock and then sudo apt-get update I get a new issue:

** (appstreamcli:3466): WARNING **: Exception: Unable to get write lock on /var/cache/app-info/xapian/default: already locked

sudo fuser /var/cache/app-info/xapian/default

shows nothing.

file /var/cache/app-info/xapian/default

shows

/var/cache/app-info/xapian/default: directory

if you are sure no other process is accesing, then is it just to delete the lock. sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/lock — Anders F. U. Kiær, May 19 '16 at 23:32
with that I get another lock issue on var/cache/app-info/xapian/default — chris, May 19 '16 at 23:34
add output of sudo fuser /var/cache/app-info/xapian/default , if the output is empty and the command; file /var/cache/app-info/xapian/default Shows something like filepath: empty. Try delete that one aswell. — Anders F. U. Kiær, May 19 '16 at 23:39
sudo fuser /var/cache/app-info/xapian/default shows nothing. file /var/cache/app-info/xapian/default shows /var/cache/app-info/xapian/default: directory. should I still delete it? — chris, May 19 '16 at 23:43
It's driving me crazy, what the hell happens to Ubuntu? No matter how I change the server or apt clean, it just won't work!! — JulianLai, May 20 '16 at 01:21
Someone has reported the bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/update-manager/+bug/1583854 — JulianLai, May 20 '16 at 01:31

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:23

0

Check out this link. I ran into the could not get lock issue the other day and resolved it with the same answer that Faheem Mitha used.

ps aux | grep apt

This will return a list of things that apt is doing with PIDs. Then run:

kill processnumber

or

kill -9 processnumber

You may or may not have to invoke sudo priveleges in order to kill the process depending on your setup.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:23

Community

1

answered May 20 '16 at 00:00

wonkybadonk

151

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 20 '16 at 01:55

0

Yeah,I have the Same Problem, the Solve(I am not Sure it is) of mine is:

Restart the System
killall the relative Process
sudo apt-get upgrade
then you could install normally
Done! It Works.

edited May 20 '16 at 01:55

muru

197,895
55
485
740

answered May 20 '16 at 00:19

Wrestle.Wu

1

Although you can upgrade, you still can't update! – JulianLai May 20 '16 at 01:23
@JulianLai I think It is a Bug about the 16.04, Report – Wrestle.Wu May 20 '16 at 01:25
Someone has reported it: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/update-manager/+bug/1583854 – JulianLai May 20 '16 at 01:31

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 20 '16 at 01:53

0

A temporary fix for now is to simply delete everything under /var/cache/app-info/xapian/default. It appears to be the search index for apt, so it will have to be rebuilt, but no ill effects otherwise.

answered May 20 '16 at 01:53

user3341691

101

sudo apt-get update cancelled half way through, now cannot run sudo apt-get update

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