Package Manager Issue

[schmidtbag]

Ubuntu has been working flawlessly for me for a long time. Today I got a notification saying that Wine needed to be updated. I told it to install the packages, but it never did. The updater kind of just froze there doing nothing. the "gksu" process was considered asleep. I figured "hmm, maybe theres just an issue with the source so I'll go disable it for now". Well, apparently System>Software Sources doesn't work either. Then I got a little worried, so I started up Synaptic Package Manager, which also wouldn't start up. The add/remove application starts up but I'm sure if I were to apply any changes, it won't.

Whats going on here? I have no idea what caused this. The last change I did to my computer was looking for ways to share files between a Windows computer, which btw I did not accomplish (I couldn't figure out how to change my workgroup). But anyway, I don't see what that would have to do with my situation now seeing as how I didn't use any package manager to attempt to get file sharing to work.

Much thanks in advance.

[abhiroopb]

Have you tried restarting (YES sounds like IT Crowd, but it works sometimes!!)

[schmidtbag]

lol yes. Right now I'm using module 2.6.24-18, and i tried 17 as well with no luck.

[abhiroopb]

Are you on hardy? Why are you changing kernels? Open a terminal and type sudo apt-get update.

[schmidtbag]

I am running Hardy but I'm not trying to change kernels, when I update, for some reason the old kernels aren't removed. I'll get around to that later.


when I typed in sudo apt-get update I got this message at the end:

W: GPG error: http://wine.budgetdedicated.com hardy Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 58403026387EE263
W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems


so, I tried typing in apt-get update and I got this:

E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/apt/lists/lock - open (13 Permission denied)
E: Unable to lock the list directory


Now what? BTW, thanks a lot for the quick responses

[abhiroopb]

no problem.

Type in:

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

A file will open up, please paste its contents here.

Then try this in a terminal


sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock
sudo rm /var/cache/apt/archives/lock
sudo apt-get update


Let me know what happens.

[schmidtbag]

sources.list contents:


# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 8.04 _Hardy Heron_ - Release Candidate i386 (20080417)]/ hardy main restricted
# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates main restricted

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## universe WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu security
## team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates universe

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy multiverse
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'backports'
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-backports main restricted universe multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository. This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is
## offered by Canonical and the respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu
## users.
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu hardy partner
deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu hardy partner

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hardy-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hardy-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hardy-security universe
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hardy-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hardy-security multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hardy-security multiverse

Nothing seemed to happen with the other scripts you gave me. It didn't say anything about the files being removed, but when I tried it again it said they were gone. The update still doesn't go.

[abhiroopb]

The scripts I gave basically deleted the lock files. You are still getting the same lockfile error? Close ALL open windows/programs and try it.

[schmidtbag]

Ya I'm getting the same error but its not lockfile, its about me having 13 permissions denied.

BTW, if I try "sudo gksu /usr/sbin/synaptic", it starts up but I get this message:
sudo: unable to resolve host Tornado-II

(Tornado-II is the computer name fyi)
If I just type in "gksu /user/sbin/synaptic" then terminal just creates a space and the cursor keeps blinking but nothing happens. So this is definitely related to permissions and that only.

[abhiroopb]

What I think what is happenin is that some file is locked, etc...not sure which one it is unfortunately :(

[schmidtbag]

well if i just removed every locked file, if i'm able to run these apps under SU, and if its saying theres permission problems (which wouldn't surprise me when i was trying to do file sharing) then unless "locked" just means no permissions to anyone, then i just need to find a way to grant these permissions.

if there is a locked file somewhere and that is the issue, then couldn't i just unlock everything in the /var/lib/apt/ folder?