Can't lock database directory: /var/lib/clamav/

cccc · 06-17-2009, 07:31 AM

hi

I have clamav installed on Debian Etch:

Code:

# dpkg -l | grep clamav
ii  clamav                            0.90.1dfsg-4etch19                              antivirus scanner for Unix
ii  clamav-base                       0.90.1dfsg-4etch19                              base package for clamav, an anti-virus utili
ii  clamav-daemon                     0.90.1dfsg-4etch19                              antivirus scanner daemon
ii  clamav-freshclam                  0.90.1dfsg-4etch19                              downloads clamav virus databases from the In
ii  libclamav2                        0.90.1dfsg-4etch19                              virus scanner library

If I start freshclam then I'm getting this Error message:

Code:

# freshclam                                                        
ERROR: Can't lock database directory: /var/lib/clamav/

Code:

# cd  /var/lib/clamav/
# ls -la
total 748
drwxr-xr-x  3 clamav clamav   4096 2009-06-16 11:31 .
drwxr-xr-x 45 root   root     4096 2009-06-16 11:18 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 clamav clamav 744484 2009-06-16 11:19 daily.cvd
-rwxrwxr--  1 clamav clamav      0 2009-06-16 12:33 .dbLock
drwxr-xr-x  2 clamav clamav   4096 2009-06-16 11:19 main.inc
-rw-------  1 clamav clamav    104 2009-06-16 11:30 mirrors.dat

howto solve this problem?

Steel_J · 06-17-2009, 08:13 AM

In my experience you often need to run antivirus as root. Depending on different distribution it varies.
Try running FreshClam as root and see what that happens.

cccc · 06-17-2009, 08:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steel_J

In my experience you often need to run antivirus as root. Depending on different distribution it varies.
Try running FreshClam as root and see what that happens.

that was running as root user

AlucardZero · 06-17-2009, 08:24 AM

Is it already running? If you can reboot, does that clear it up? If it's actually not running there's probably a lock file you have to remove. Try /etc/init.d/clamav-freshclam restart

Steel_J · 06-17-2009, 05:52 PM

Sorry I replied from my mobile phone so the text is really tiny...

My bad!

I have seen bugs like this in other software where removing the lock file is a common fix.

You may have to reboot for this to be succesfull though.

gilead · 06-17-2009, 06:51 PM

Since /var/lib/clamav is owned by clamav, it shouldn't be just a permissions problem. Have you tried stopping all of the *clam* processes and removing /var/lib/clamav/.dbLock? The only info I saw using google that might be relevant was here (as Steel_J noted in his post), although according to this you might get some more data by running:

Code:

strace clamav &> strace.dump
egrep '^open|exec' strace.dump

I'd also recommend checking the logs (/var/log/freshclam.log and /var/log/clamd.log?) for more info.

cccc · 06-23-2009, 07:39 PM

to remove .dbLock doesn't help, because will be created again.

billymayday · 06-23-2009, 07:45 PM

Are you sure you are using the clamav user? IIRC, frechclam picks up user info from clamd.conf (or similar). There should be a user specified in there ("User clamav" for example).

cccc · 06-23-2009, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billymayday

Are you sure you are using the clamav user? IIRC, frechclam picks up user info from clamd.conf (or similar). There should be a user specified in there ("User clamav" for example).

the clamav user already exists and ist configured in /etc/clamav/clamd.conf

billymayday · 06-23-2009, 08:03 PM

That wasn't the point of my post if you re-read it. Do you have a clamd.conf (or similar under Debian), and what is the prescibed user nominated in it.

cccc · 06-24-2009, 01:51 AM

my /etc/clamav/clamd.conf:

Code:

#Automatically Generated by clamav-base postinst
#To reconfigure clamd run #dpkg-reconfigure clamav-base
#Please read /usr/share/doc/clamav-base/README.Debian.gz for details
LocalSocket /var/run/clamav/clamd.ctl
FixStaleSocket true
User clamav
AllowSupplementaryGroups true
ScanMail true
ScanArchive true
ArchiveMaxRecursion 5
ArchiveMaxFiles 1000
ArchiveMaxFileSize 10M
ArchiveMaxCompressionRatio 250
ArchiveLimitMemoryUsage false
ArchiveBlockEncrypted false
MaxDirectoryRecursion 15
FollowDirectorySymlinks false
FollowFileSymlinks false
ReadTimeout 180
MaxThreads 12
MaxConnectionQueueLength 15
StreamMaxLength 10M
LogSyslog false
LogFacility LOG_LOCAL6
LogClean false
LogVerbose false
PidFile /var/run/clamav/clamd.pid
DatabaseDirectory /var/lib/clamav
TemporaryDirectory /tmp
SelfCheck 3600
Foreground false
Debug false
ScanPE true
ScanOLE2 true
ScanHTML true
DetectBrokenExecutables false
MailFollowURLs false
ArchiveBlockMax false
ExitOnOOM false
LeaveTemporaryFiles false
AlgorithmicDetection true
ScanELF true
NodalCoreAcceleration false
IdleTimeout 30
MailMaxRecursion 64
PhishingSignatures true
LogFile /var/log/clamav/clamav.log
LogTime true
LogFileUnlock false
LogFileMaxSize 0

billymayday · 06-24-2009, 02:03 AM

Have you confirmed some other clamav process hasn't already got it locked?

Try "ps aux | grep clam"

cccc · 06-24-2009, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billymayday

Have you confirmed some other clamav process hasn't already got it locked?

Try "ps aux | grep clam"

Code:

# freshclam
ERROR: Can't lock database directory: /var/lib/clamav/
# ps aux | grep clam
clamav    2448 99.4  3.6  52956 47840 ?        Rs   17:34  37:51 /usr/sbin/clamd
clamav    2535  0.0  0.0   5488   700 ?        Ss   17:34   0:00 /usr/bin/freshclam -d --quiet
root      2929  0.0  0.0   2852   696 pts/0    D+   18:12   0:00 grep clam

AlucardZero · 06-24-2009, 11:34 AM

See, it's already running.

billymayday · 06-24-2009, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlucardZero

See, it's already running.

Clamd running shouldn't cause freshclam a problem