apt hangs while unpacking

[tompc35]

My problem is that I am unable to do a routine upgrade of packages. When I try to perform an upgrade, the following occurs:



$ sudo aptitude dist-upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
hotot libmysqlclient16 libplymouth2 libxml2 libxml2-utils mysql-common
plymouth plymouth-label plymouth-theme-ubuntu-logo
plymouth-theme-ubuntu-text plymouth-x11 python-libxml2 tzdata tzdata-java
14 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/4,869kB of archives. After unpacking 24.6kB will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] y
Writing extended state information... Done
Preconfiguring packages ...
(Reading database ... 190607 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace tzdata-java 2010m-0ubuntu0.10.04 (using .../tzdata-java_2010o-0ubuntu0.10.04_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement tzdata-java ...
And then it hangs right there forever. Every time I try (using either "dist-upgrade" or "upgrade" or "-f install" arguments), the process hangs in the same place. I have tried being patient by letting it run overnight, but no luck. In order to be able to try again, I have input the following commands:



$ sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock
$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
$ sudo rm /var/lock/aptitude
$ sudo aptitude update
If I try to install another package, I get the following message:



...
E: I wasn't able to locate file for the tzdata-java package. This might mean you need to manually fix this package.
E: I wasn't able to locate file for the tzdata-java package. This might mean you need to manually fix this package.
E: Internal error: couldn't generate list of packages to download
I have tried searching the forums, with no success. Please let me know if you have any ideas. Thank you.

[sikander3786]

Try,


sudo apt-get clean


sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade


sudo aptitude dist-upgrade

[tompc35]

Thanks for the suggestion. I have tried that combination of commands, but it hangs in the same unpacking step (after getting files):


$ sudo aptitude dist-upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
empathy empathy-common hotot libmysqlclient16 libplymouth2 libxml2
libxml2-utils mysql-common nautilus-sendto-empathy plymouth
plymouth-label plymouth-theme-ubuntu-logo plymouth-theme-ubuntu-text
plymouth-x11 python-libxml2 tzdata tzdata-java xserver-common
xserver-xorg-core
19 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 9,908kB of archives. After unpacking 164kB will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] y
Writing extended state information... Done
Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main tzdata-java 2010o-0ubuntu0.10.04 [144kB]
Get:2 http://ppa.launchpad.net/jimmyxu/hotot/ubuntu/ lucid/main hotot 1:0.9.5~hg538-0ubuntu0ppa1~lucid1 [430kB]
Get:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main tzdata 2010o-0ubuntu0.10.04 [677kB]
Get:4 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main plymouth-label 0.8.2-2ubuntu2.1 [18.0kB]
Get:5 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main plymouth-x11 0.8.2-2ubuntu2.1 [26.3kB]
Get:6 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main plymouth 0.8.2-2ubuntu2.1 [124kB]
Get:7 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main libplymouth2 0.8.2-2ubuntu2.1 [101kB]
Get:8 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main libxml2 2.7.6.dfsg-1ubuntu1.1 [873kB]
Get:9 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main plymouth-theme-ubuntu-text 0.8.2-2ubuntu2.1 [21.1kB]
Get:10 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main nautilus-sendto-empathy 2.30.3-0ubuntu1 [659kB]
Get:11 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main empathy 2.30.3-0ubuntu1 [1,022kB]
Get:12 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main empathy-common 2.30.3-0ubuntu1 [720kB]
Get:13 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main mysql-common 5.1.41-3ubuntu12.7 [98.6kB]
Get:14 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main libmysqlclient16 5.1.41-3ubuntu12.7 [1,986kB]
Get:15 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main libxml2-utils 2.7.6.dfsg-1ubuntu1.1 [92.8kB]
Get:16 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main plymouth-theme-ubuntu-logo 0.8.2-2ubuntu2.1 [34.2kB]
Get:17 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main python-libxml2 2.7.6.dfsg-1ubuntu1.1 [243kB]
Get:18 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main xserver-common 2:1.7.6-2ubuntu7.4 [83.4kB]
Get:19 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main xserver-xorg-core 2:1.7.6-2ubuntu7.4 [2,553kB]
Fetched 9,908kB in 3s (2,950kB/s)
Preconfiguring packages ...
(Reading database ... 190607 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace tzdata-java 2010m-0ubuntu0.10.04 (using .../tzdata-java_2010o-0ubuntu0.10.04_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement tzdata-java ...

[sikander3786]

Try to remove the offensive package.


dpkg -r tzdata-java

and then,


sudo dpkg --configure -a

Please post the output as well.

[tompc35]

Also, I forgot to mention that the previous step ('apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade') ends with an error about unmet dependencies.

I tried 'apt-get -f install' but that did not work either.



$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
Hit http://download.virtualbox.org lucid Release.gpg
Ign http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/ lucid/non-free Translation-en_US
Hit http://download.virtualbox.org lucid Release
Hit http://download.virtualbox.org lucid/non-free Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security Release.gpg
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-security/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-security/restricted Translation-en_US
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid Release.gpg
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid/main Translation-en_US
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net lucid Release.gpg
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net/effie-jayx/turpial/ubuntu/ lucid/main Translation-en_US
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net lucid Release.gpg
Hit http://archive.canonical.com lucid Release.gpg
Ign http://archive.canonical.com/ lucid/partner Translation-en_US
Hit http://packages.medibuntu.org lucid Release.gpg
Ign http://packages.medibuntu.org/ lucid/free Translation-en_US
Ign http://packages.medibuntu.org/ lucid/non-free Translation-en_US
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-security/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-security/multiverse Translation-en_US
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security Release
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid/multiverse Translation-en_US
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid-updates Release.gpg
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/multiverse Translation-en_US
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid Release
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net/jimmyxu/hotot/ubuntu/ lucid/main Translation-en_US
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net lucid Release.gpg
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net/matthaeus123/mrw-gimp-svn/ubuntu/ lucid/main Translation-en_US
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net lucid Release.gpg
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-tweak-testing/ppa/ubuntu/ lucid/main Translation-en_US
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net lucid Release
Hit http://archive.canonical.com lucid Release
Hit http://packages.medibuntu.org lucid Release
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security/main Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid-updates Release
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net lucid Release
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net lucid Release
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net lucid Release
Hit http://archive.canonical.com lucid/partner Packages
Hit http://packages.medibuntu.org lucid/free Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security/restricted Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security/main Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security/restricted Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security/universe Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security/universe Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid/main Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid/restricted Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid/main Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid/restricted Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid/universe Packages
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net lucid/main Packages
Hit http://packages.medibuntu.org lucid/non-free Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security/multiverse Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security/multiverse Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid/universe Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid/multiverse Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid/multiverse Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid-updates/main Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid-updates/restricted Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid-updates/main Sources
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net lucid/main Packages
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net lucid/main Packages
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net lucid/main Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid-updates/restricted Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid-updates/universe Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid-updates/universe Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid-updates/multiverse Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid-updates/multiverse Sources
Reading package lists... Done
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
You might want to run `apt-get -f install' to correct these.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
E: Unmet dependencies. Try using -f.

[sikander3786]

Yes that is related.

I can't see the complete output. There should be something after these lines referring to some packages.


You might want to run `apt-get -f install' to correct these.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
E: Unmet dependencies. Try using -f.

Is any package named there?

[tompc35]

OK, in response to your new post...

There were dependency problems while attempting to remove the package:



$ sudo dpkg -r tzdata-java
dpkg: dependency problems prevent removal of tzdata-java:
openjdk-6-jre-headless depends on tzdata-java.
dpkg: error processing tzdata-java (--remove):
dependency problems - not removing
Errors were encountered while processing:
tzdata-java

[tompc35]

Yes that is related.

I can't see the complete output. There should be something after these lines referring to some packages.

Quote:
You might want to run `apt-get -f install' to correct these.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
E: Unmet dependencies. Try using -f.
Is any package named there?


I checked, that is the entire output. The next line is a command prompt.

[sikander3786]

Ok. Time for some manual clean up. Follow with caution, keep a close eye and your mind on what you are doing and double check before deleting any files/text as advised.

Type,


gksu nautilus /var/lib/dpkg/info

Find tzdata-java, any files relating to it and delete them or move them to some other location whatever you prefer.

Now make a backup of your dpkg status file as you are going to edit it and might need to revert back to the original in case.


sudo cp /var/lib/dpgk/status /var/lib/dpkg/status.bak

Now edit the file


gksu gedit /var/lib/dpkg/status

Search for tzdata-java and delete any lines relating to it. There might be more than one so go keep on searching until the end of the file.

Now type


sudo apt-get update

And tell me that the error message is gone. :-)

You are doing everything as root, the system might not ask you to double check or even single check if deleting something. Be cautious or you might mess up your system.

[tompc35]

Type,

Code:
gksu nautilus /var/lib/dpkg/info
Find tzdata-java, any files relating to it and delete them or move them to some other location whatever you prefer.OK, moved 'tzdata-java.list' and 'tzdata-java.md5sums' away from that folder.


Now edit the file

Code:
gksu gedit /var/lib/dpkg/status
Search for tzdata-java and delete any lines relating to it. There might be more than one so go keep on searching until the end of the file.OK, deleted these lines:



Package: tzdata-java
Status: deinstall reinstreq half-installed
Priority: optional
Section: java
Installed-Size: 1916
Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com>
Architecture: all
Source: tzdata
Version: 2010m-0ubuntu0.10.04
Config-Version: 2010m-0ubuntu0.10.04
Depends: tzdata (= 2010m-0ubuntu0.10.04)
Description: time zone and daylight-saving time data for use by java runtimes
This package contains data required for the implementation of
standard local time for many representative locations around the
globe. It is updated periodically to reflect changes made by
political bodies to time zone boundaries, UTC offsets, and
daylight-saving rules.
.
This package contains the data for use by Java runtimes.
Original-Maintainer: GNU Libc Maintainers <debian-glibc@lists.debian.org>

And also deleted 'tzdata-java' from the list of depends here (did not delete the whole section):



Package: openjdk-6-jre-headless
Status: install ok installed
Priority: optional
Section: java
Installed-Size: 75440
Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com>
Architecture: amd64
Source: openjdk-6
Version: 6b18-1.8.2-4ubuntu2
Replaces: openjdk-6-jdk (<< 6b18-1.8.2-4), openjdk-6-jre (<< 6b09dfsg-0ubuntu2), openjdk-6-jre-lib (<< 6b06-0ubuntu11)
Provides: java-runtime-headless, java2-runtime-headless, java5-runtime-headless, java6-runtime-headless
Depends: openjdk-6-jre-lib (>= 6b18-1.8.2-4ubuntu2), ca-certificates-java, tzdata-java, java-common (>= 0.28), libcups2, liblcms1, libjpeg62, libnss3-1d (>= 3.12.3), libc6 (>= 2.11), libfreetype6 (>= 2.2.1), libgcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1), zlib1g (>= 1:1.1.4)
Recommends: icedtea-6-jre-cacao (= 6b18-1.8.2-4ubuntu2)
I then ran

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade... and now the error message is gone, but the upgrade hangs while unpacking the 'tzdata' package.


$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
openjdk-6-jre-headless
The following packages will be upgraded:
empathy empathy-common hotot libmysqlclient16 libplymouth2 libxml2
libxml2-utils mysql-common nautilus-sendto-empathy plymouth plymouth-label
plymouth-theme-ubuntu-logo plymouth-theme-ubuntu-text plymouth-x11
python-libxml2 tzdata xserver-common xserver-xorg-core
18 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 9,086kB/9,764kB of archives.
After this operation, 164kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main plymouth-label 0.8.2-2ubuntu2.1 [18.0kB]
Get:2 http://ppa.launchpad.net/jimmyxu/hotot/ubuntu/ lucid/main hotot 1:0.9.5~hg538-0ubuntu0ppa1~lucid1 [430kB]
Get:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main plymouth-x11 0.8.2-2ubuntu2.1 [26.3kB]
Get:4 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main plymouth 0.8.2-2ubuntu2.1 [124kB]
Get:5 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main libplymouth2 0.8.2-2ubuntu2.1 [101kB]
Get:6 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main libxml2 2.7.6.dfsg-1ubuntu1.1 [873kB]
Get:7 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main plymouth-theme-ubuntu-text 0.8.2-2ubuntu2.1 [21.1kB]
Get:8 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main nautilus-sendto-empathy 2.30.3-0ubuntu1 [659kB]
Get:9 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main empathy 2.30.3-0ubuntu1 [1,022kB]
Get:10 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main empathy-common 2.30.3-0ubuntu1 [720kB]
Get:11 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main mysql-common 5.1.41-3ubuntu12.7 [98.6kB]
Get:12 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main libmysqlclient16 5.1.41-3ubuntu12.7 [1,986kB]
Get:13 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main libxml2-utils 2.7.6.dfsg-1ubuntu1.1 [92.8kB]
Get:14 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main plymouth-theme-ubuntu-logo 0.8.2-2ubuntu2.1 [34.2kB]
Get:15 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main python-libxml2 2.7.6.dfsg-1ubuntu1.1 [243kB]
Get:16 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main xserver-common 2:1.7.6-2ubuntu7.4 [83.4kB]
Get:17 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main xserver-xorg-core 2:1.7.6-2ubuntu7.4 [2,553kB]
Fetched 9,086kB in 3s (2,646kB/s)
Preconfiguring packages ...
(Reading database ... 190140 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace tzdata 2010m-0ubuntu0.10.04 (using .../tzdata_2010o-0ubuntu0.10.04_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement tzdata ...
Maybe I should repeat the above steps with tzdata? Or maybe there is a deeper problem related to unpacking?

[sikander3786]

It shouldn't go this way...

Repeat the steps for tzdata as well.

[tompc35]

Same problem. Definitely seems like something is wrong with the unpacking step, not the packages themselves.



$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
libc6 libical0 openjdk-6-jre-headless python-dateutil python-tz
ubuntu-minimal util-linux
The following packages will be upgraded:
empathy empathy-common hotot libmysqlclient16 libplymouth2 libxml2
libxml2-utils mysql-common nautilus-sendto-empathy plymouth plymouth-label
plymouth-theme-ubuntu-logo plymouth-theme-ubuntu-text plymouth-x11
python-libxml2 xserver-common xserver-xorg-core
17 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 7 not upgraded.
Need to get 9,086kB of archives.
After this operation, 164kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main plymouth-label 0.8.2-2ubuntu2.1 [18.0kB]
Get:2 http://ppa.launchpad.net/jimmyxu/hotot/ubuntu/ lucid/main hotot 1:0.9.5~hg538-0ubuntu0ppa1~lucid1 [430kB]
Get:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main plymouth-x11 0.8.2-2ubuntu2.1 [26.3kB]
Get:4 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main plymouth 0.8.2-2ubuntu2.1 [124kB]
Get:5 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main libplymouth2 0.8.2-2ubuntu2.1 [101kB]
Get:6 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main libxml2 2.7.6.dfsg-1ubuntu1.1 [873kB]
Get:7 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main plymouth-theme-ubuntu-text 0.8.2-2ubuntu2.1 [21.1kB]
Get:8 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main nautilus-sendto-empathy 2.30.3-0ubuntu1 [659kB]
Get:9 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main empathy 2.30.3-0ubuntu1 [1,022kB]
Get:10 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main empathy-common 2.30.3-0ubuntu1 [720kB]
Get:11 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main mysql-common 5.1.41-3ubuntu12.7 [98.6kB]
Get:12 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main libmysqlclient16 5.1.41-3ubuntu12.7 [1,986kB]
Get:13 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main libxml2-utils 2.7.6.dfsg-1ubuntu1.1 [92.8kB]
Get:14 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main plymouth-theme-ubuntu-logo 0.8.2-2ubuntu2.1 [34.2kB]
Get:15 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main python-libxml2 2.7.6.dfsg-1ubuntu1.1 [243kB]
Get:16 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main xserver-common 2:1.7.6-2ubuntu7.4 [83.4kB]
Get:17 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main xserver-xorg-core 2:1.7.6-2ubuntu7.4 [2,553kB]
Fetched 9,086kB in 3s (2,342kB/s)
(Reading database ... 188301 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace plymouth-label 0.8.2-2ubuntu2 (using .../plymouth-label_0.8.2-2ubuntu2.1_amd64.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement plymouth-label ...

[sikander3786]

Yes sounds like...

Is there enough free space on the partition?


df -h

[tompc35]

Yes GB's of space on all partitions.

However, I did some more research and found this reported (and unfixed) bug:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/dpkg/+bug/624229

People there report similar problems when unpacking replacement packages, possibly related to external USB hard drives. I do have an external hard drive, and I am running a model that uses data on that hard drive. So when the model run finishes, I will try to see if my hard drive is causing the problem, then I will report the results back here. I am not doing anything out of the ordinary, so I am not sure why this problem would come up all of a sudden.

Thanks again for all your help, sikander3786

[MightyMag]

I'm having the exact same problem. Ubuntu 10.10 64-bit, clean install. Random stuff just hangs during unpacking process in apt. Reboot is the only thing that helps.

[sikander3786]

I'm having the exact same problem. Ubuntu 10.10 64-bit, clean install. Random stuff just hangs during unpacking process in apt. Reboot is the only thing that helps.
Please post the output of these commands.


sudo apt-get clean


sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade


df -h

[Ikka3990]

I have been having the same problems after a kernel upgrade. Things seem to work fine for older kernels (up to 2.6.35-22). For now, I hope you can manage by logging into one of your older kernels during boot time.

[niki+a]

Started this post on what seems like the same problem here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=10309719&posted=1#post10309719

tried everything:

sudo dpkg --configure -a

sudo rm /var/cache/apt/archives/lock

sudo rm <other locks>

sudo apt-get clean

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

sudo dpkg --remove --force-remove-reinstreq <package name>

then same steps... it clears apt history, but the problem is always the same, apt just hangs...



nikita@ubuntu:~$ df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/loop0 29G 17G 11G 61% /
none 2.0G 380K 2.0G 1% /dev
none 2.0G 4.8M 2.0G 1% /dev/shm
none 2.0G 312K 2.0G 1% /var/run
none 2.0G 0 2.0G 0% /var/lock
none 2.0G 0 2.0G 0% /lib/init/rw
/dev/sda6 32G 31G 1.2G 97% /host
none 29G 17G 11G 61% /var/lib/ureadahead/debugfs
/dev/sdc1 1.9T 505G 1.4T 28% /media/Elements
/dev/sda5 154G 80G 74G 52% /media/DATA
/dev/sda2 75G 42G 33G 56% /media/OS
/dev/sda7 25G 173M 23G 1% /media/home



Is it the fact that /dev/sda6 only has 1.2 G left? Should be plenty though, the programs I am trying to install hardly exceed 1 mb...

[niki+a]

I restarted my computer and everything worked fine.


sudo aptitude install <package name>

Worked like a charm. Note, I used:



sudo dpkg --configure -a

sudo rm /var/cache/apt/archives/lock

sudo rm <other locks>

sudo apt-get clean

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

sudo dpkg --remove --force-remove-reinstreq <package name>


to do manual clean up. I think it can be considered clean when you run:



sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade


and get no weirdness.

Heh, Linux, as much as I love you, not quite there yet.

[jpmeijers]

I have the same problem with a fully updated Ubuntu 10.10 32bit. As was already mentioned, I only got this problem after I started using a external that is semi-permanently plugged in. The is enough space left on all partitions.

[efd]

I have this same problem. Apparently this is a bug in dpkg, which apt calls to update the system. dpkg does a filesystem sync after each and every file it unpacks to maximize safety, but if other i/o is happening on the system especially with large external drives, dpkg will hang as sync() syncs the entire filesystem and not just the file it's unpacking. It's really really stupid and a lot of people are ticked about it because it doesn't actually make dpkg any safer.

Here's the Launchpad bug report.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/dpkg/+bug/624229

Basically, if you're using an external USB drive or doing any other i/o, stop/unmount it before running apt.

[niki+a]

I have this same problem. Apparently this is a bug in dpkg, which apt calls to update the system. dpkg does a filesystem sync after each and every file it unpacks to maximize safety, but if other i/o is happening on the system especially with large external drives, dpkg will hang as sync() syncs the entire filesystem and not just the file it's unpacking. It's really really stupid and a lot of people are ticked about it because it doesn't actually make dpkg any safer.

Here's the Launchpad bug report.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/dpkg/+bug/624229

Basically, if you're using an external USB drive or doing any other i/o, stop/unmount it before running apt.

Thank you.

[skralljt]

I don't have an external drive. Doesn't help me at all. Wish I had stuck with my old ubuntu installation, which I've been upgrading from 6. something. Full of useless config files and links pointing to nowhere but it worked fairly well.

[mister_playboy]

I have this same problem. Apparently this is a bug in dpkg, which apt calls to update the system. dpkg does a filesystem sync after each and every file it unpacks to maximize safety, but if other i/o is happening on the system especially with large external drives, dpkg will hang as sync() syncs the entire filesystem and not just the file it's unpacking. It's really really stupid and a lot of people are ticked about it because it doesn't actually make dpkg any safer.

Here's the Launchpad bug report.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/dpkg/+bug/624229

Basically, if you're using an external USB drive or doing any other i/o, stop/unmount it before running apt.

Thanks for this information. After rebooting with the external HDDs disconnected, I was able to follow the other steps to fix dpkg successfully and now I can update again. :guitar:

[smrtbeenr]

I'm just doing a clean install using the 10.04 dvd and a totally blank internal HDD. It just hangs there saying "running dpkg" wtf, mate?

[hzFVOW00pw]

Same problem here. I was experiencing this problem while running a rsnapshot backup to an external USB hdd. After the backup I unmounted the hdd and run various commands from a terminal:


sudo -i


rm -f /var/cache/apt/archives/lock /var/lib/apt/lists/lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock /var/lib/dpkg/info/packagename*

And edited /var/lib/dpkg/status to remove the entry of <packagename>


apt-get clean

dpkg --configure -a

dpkg --remove --force-remove-reinstreq packagename

apt-get install packagename

This worked for me. I did not have to reboot or disconnect the external disk, only unmount it.

[Ctulhu]

I am suffering from a very similar problem: I installed a clean Kubuntu 11.10 64bit on a Dell Latitude E6500. Rebooted after install, ran the update manager Muon first thing, said apply all upgrades, and then at 57% ("Running dpkg") the progress bar freezes and that's it. No external drive attached, plenty of space on the hard drive, and this is the third clean install attempt. (On that same computer, Ubuntu 11.10 and Mint 11 worked just fine). Any ideas? I can't believe it's nearly 2012 and one can't just install Kubuntu on a decent but not bleeding-edge Dell notebook ...

[ambrosa]

I am suffering from a very similar problem: I installed a clean Kubuntu 11.10 64bit on a Dell Latitude E6500. Rebooted after install, ran the update manager Muon first thing, said apply all upgrades, and then at 57% ("Running dpkg") the progress bar freezes and that's it. No external drive attached, plenty of space on the hard drive, and this is the third clean install attempt. (On that same computer, Ubuntu 11.10 and Mint 11 worked just fine). Any ideas? I can't believe it's nearly 2012 and one can't just install Kubuntu on a decent but not bleeding-edge Dell notebook ...

THE SAME !!
Today I started to install for the first time Kubuntu 11.10 64bit (I used for years Ubuntu) in my desktop system: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, 6 GB RAM, Nvidia 9600GT. In this system run fine Ubuntu 64bit (since 09.x), Linux Mint, Fedora, Windows XP and Win7 64bit

After installation, the first thing I did was run Muon to upgrade system.
Muon run to 57% and then stop say "dpkg"
KDE Menù icons disappeared so I cannot start any sw (i.e. terminal).

After 30 minutes of total inactivity, I can only power-off the system.
I've retried a second time with the same result.

Terrible wrong !!!!

[ambrosa]

I've reinstalled for the third time Kubuntu 11.10 64bit
After the first login I DON'T run Muon. I open a terminal window and I run:

sudo apt-update
sudo apt-upgrade
well, downloaded and installed fine 293 packages

Then reboot, and again:
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade (to upgrade from kernel 3.0.0-12 to 3.0.0-14)

Reboot again and installed Nvidia current driver (280.13)

Kubuntu works fine.


I think that the problem above is a Muon bug.

[Ctulhu]

Agreed, I think it's a Muon bug as well: I installed Synaptic Package Manager to do all the updates and had no problems with that.