{"id":678,"date":"2017-10-04T13:00:52","date_gmt":"2017-10-04T12:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chewett.co.uk\/blog\/?p=678"},"modified":"2017-10-02T22:27:32","modified_gmt":"2017-10-02T21:27:32","slug":"apt-unable-lock-administration-directory-varlibdpkg-another-process-using","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chewett.co.uk\/blog\/678\/apt-unable-lock-administration-directory-varlibdpkg-another-process-using\/","title":{"rendered":"apt Unable to lock the administration directory (\/var\/lib\/dpkg\/) is another process using it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post explains why you may sometimes not be able to run apt commands and how to find out what is causing the issue.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Why apt sometimes cannot get a lock<\/h2>\n

apt-get is one of the package administration programs for a range of Linux based operating systems. This manages the list of packages you have installed (pieces of software). In addition this\u00a0lets you install and remove packages from all your software repositories installed.<\/p>\n

One of the ways this ensures that the package database is always kept in a correct state is by locking it. This ensures that only one process can be using and updating the package database at any one time.<\/p>\n

The standard message you get when you fail to get the lock is reproduced below.<\/p>\n

Unable to lock the administration directory (\/var\/lib\/dpkg\/) is another process using it?<\/pre>\n
This would occur if you tried to use your package manager while another process has the lock.\u00a0Recently a number of distributions have included software that will automatically update apt. This can cause apt to be locked when you are trying to use it.<\/p>\n
Checking what is using apt<\/h2>\n
On Ubuntu there are a number of programs that will use apt on the backend. While they are performing operations they will lock the apt database causing the error message. A couple\u00a0 possible programs that might lock apt when using it are:<\/p>\n