Hello once again,
I get a strange error when trying to launch adept on Kubuntu 6
All I get is an error message stating that "another process is using the packaging system database (probably some other adept or apt get or aptitude) Please close the other application before using this one.

The problem started when I tried to install Eclipse and the Java engine, but I ran into some trouble, when the Sun installation software asked me to accept their license agreement. For one reason another, I found no way of pushing the yes button that appeared into a sort of console like subwindow inside adept, and had to terminate the installation. I tried killing processes with adept like names (as well as apt like names) and found one, (it's marked with asterisks on the list) This, though, produced no kind of positive effects. Upon running the adept again, the program appears on the taskbar then disappears and stays hanging on the console process list

I will submit here an excerpt I produced with the ps -aux command


Warning: bad ps syntax, perhaps a bogus '-'? See http://procps.sf.net/faq.html
USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TTY STAT START TIME COMMAND
root 1 0.0 0.0 1632 536 ? Ss 17:01 0:01 /sbin/init splash
root 2 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 17:01 0:00 [migration/0]
root 3 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SN 17:01 0:00 [ksoftirqd/0]
root 4 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 17:01 0:00 [watchdog/0]
root 5 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 17:01 0:00 [events/0]
root 6 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 17:01 0:00 [khelper]
root 7 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 17:01 0:00 [kthread]
root 9 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 17:01 0:00 [kblockd/0]
root 10 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 17:01 0:00 [kacpid]
root 11 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 17:01 0:00 [kacpi_notify]
root 133 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 17:01 0:00 [kseriod]
root 166 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 17:01 0:00 [pdflush]
root 167 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 17:01 0:00 [pdflush]
root 168 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 17:01 0:00 [kswapd0]
root 169 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 17:01 0:00 [aio/0]
root 1638 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 17:01 0:00 [ata/0]
root 1642 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 17:01 0:00 [scsi_eh_0]
root 1643 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 17:01 0:00 [scsi_eh_1]
root 1749 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 17:02 0:00 [khubd]
root 1771 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 17:02 0:00 [khpsbpkt]
root 1798 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 17:02 0:00 [knodemgrd_0]
root 1840 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 17:02 0:00 [kjournald]
root 1918 0.0 0.0 1600 540 ? Ss 17:02 0:00 //sbin/logd
root 2064 0.0 0.1 2608 1040 ? S<s 17:02 0:00 /sbin/udevd --daemon
root 2774 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 17:02 0:00 [shpchpd]
root 2950 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 17:02 0:00 [kpsmoused]
dhcp 3350 0.0 0.0 2396 564 ? S<s 17:02 0:00 dhclient3 -pf /var/run/dhclient.eth0.pid
root 3580 0.0 0.0 1596 504 tty1 Ss+ 17:02 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty1
root 3581 0.0 0.0 1600 508 tty2 Ss+ 17:02 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty2
root 3582 0.0 0.0 1600 508 tty3 Ss+ 17:02 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty3
root 3583 0.0 0.0 1600 508 tty4 Ss+ 17:02 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty4
root 3584 0.0 0.0 1596 500 tty5 Ss+ 17:02 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty5
root 3585 0.0 0.0 1600 508 tty6 Ss+ 17:02 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty6
root 3789 0.0 0.1 2204 1156 ? Ss 17:02 0:00 /usr/sbin/acpid -c /etc/acpi/events -s /v
root 3909 0.0 0.0 1720 508 ? Ss 17:02 0:00 /bin/dd bs 1 if /proc/kmsg of /var/run/kl
klog 3911 0.0 0.1 2428 1312 ? Ss 17:02 0:00 /sbin/klogd -P /var/run/klogd/kmsg
root 3924 0.0 0.0 2680 656 ? Ss 17:02 0:00 /usr/bin/kdm
root 3945 5.9 4.8 45212 37776 tty7 Ss+ 17:02 2:11 /usr/bin/X -br -nolisten tcp :0 vt7 -auth
root 3955 0.0 0.1 3656 1388 ? S 17:02 0:00 -:0
root 3974 0.0 0.1 4900 928 ? Ss 17:02 0:00 /usr/sbin/hpiod
hplip 3995 0.0 0.6 9724 4856 ? S 17:02 0:00 python /usr/sbin/hpssd
103 4056 0.0 0.1 2172 812 ? Ss 17:02 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --system
106 4071 0.0 0.7 7084 5552 ? Ss 17:02 0:01 /usr/sbin/hald
root 4072 0.0 0.1 2908 1032 ? S 17:02 0:00 hald-runner
106 4078 0.0 0.1 2024 808 ? S 17:02 0:00 /usr/lib/hal/hald-addon-acpi
106 4085 0.0 0.1 2024 812 ? S 17:02 0:00 /usr/lib/hal/hald-addon-keyboard
106 4095 0.0 0.1 2024 836 ? S 17:02 0:00 /usr/lib/hal/hald-addon-storage
root 4176 0.0 0.0 2064 728 ? Ss 17:02 0:00 /usr/sbin/hcid -x
root 4182 0.0 0.0 1664 496 ? Ss 17:02 0:00 /usr/sbin/sdpd
root 4195 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 17:02 0:00 [krfcommd]
daemon 4227 0.0 0.0 1848 420 ? Ss 17:02 0:00 /usr/sbin/atd
root 4240 0.0 0.1 2192 864 ? Ss 17:02 0:00 /usr/sbin/cron
visa 4316 0.0 0.0 1660 504 ? Ss 17:03 0:00 /bin/sh /usr/bin/x-session-manager
visa 4357 0.0 0.0 4480 724 ? Ss 17:03 0:00 /usr/bin/ssh-agent /usr/bin/dbus-launch -
visa 4360 0.0 0.0 2528 620 ? S 17:03 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-launch --exit-with-session
visa 4361 0.0 0.0 2052 432 ? Ss 17:03 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid 9
visa 4393 0.0 0.0 1444 136 ? S 17:03 0:00 start_kdeinit --new-startup +kcminit_star
visa 4394 0.0 1.0 25496 8248 ? Ss 17:03 0:00 kdeinit Running...
visa 4397 0.0 0.3 24900 3076 ? S 17:03 0:00 dcopserver [kdeinit] --nosid
visa 4400 0.0 1.1 26120 8628 ? S 17:03 0:00 klauncher [kdeinit] --new-startup
visa 4402 0.0 1.8 30448 14196 ? S 17:03 0:01 kded [kdeinit] --new-startup
visa 4408 0.0 0.0 1580 356 ? S 17:03 0:00 kwrapper ksmserver
visa 4410 0.0 1.2 26112 9848 ? S 17:03 0:00 ksmserver [kdeinit]
visa 4411 0.1 1.6 28908 13156 ? S 17:03 0:02 kwin [kdeinit] -session 1011a13412fdc0001
visa 4413 0.0 1.6 33504 12852 ? S 17:03 0:00 knotify [kdeinit]
visa 4415 0.1 2.2 32496 17604 ? S 17:03 0:02 kdesktop [kdeinit]
visa 4419 0.7 1.1 47560 8940 ? SL 17:03 0:17 /usr/bin/artsd -F 10 -S 4096 -s 60 -m art
visa 4420 0.1 2.2 32916 17788 ? S 17:03 0:04 kicker [kdeinit]
visa 4421 0.0 1.0 25580 8276 ? S 17:03 0:00 kio_file [kdeinit] file /tmp/ksocket-visa
visa 4430 0.0 1.8 29044 14060 ? S 17:03 0:00 kio_uiserver [kdeinit]
visa 4448 0.0 1.2 25828 9400 ? S 17:03 0:00 kaccess [kdeinit]
visa 4453 0.0 2.0 28484 16084 ? S 17:03 0:00 katapult -session 10d9d396680001126806606
visa 4460 0.2 2.2 31016 17148 ? S 17:03 0:05 yakuake -session 1011a13412fdc00011733707
visa 4464 0.0 0.2 7840 2280 ? S 17:03 0:00 aspell -a -S -C -Tutf8 --encoding=utf-8
visa 4470 0.0 0.0 1860 624 ? S 17:03 0:00 /usr/bin/passkey-agent --default /usr/lib
visa 4474 0.0 1.5 27476 12316 ? S 17:03 0:00 kbluetoothd --dontforceshow
visa 4504 0.0 0.4 16924 3148 ? S 17:03 0:00 /usr/bin/kdesud
cupsys 4762 0.0 0.2 4528 1748 ? SNs 17:07 0:00 /usr/sbin/cupsd
root 4838 0.0 0.0 1652 612 ? RNs 17:08 0:00 /sbin/syslogd
root 4991 0.0 1.1 25480 8624 ? Ss 17:15 0:00 kdeinit Running...
root 4994 0.0 0.9 24768 7040 ? S 17:15 0:00 dcopserver [kdeinit] --nosid --suicide
root 4997 0.0 1.1 25988 8756 ? S 17:15 0:00 klauncher [kdeinit]
root 5001 0.0 1.1 25564 8908 ? S 17:15 0:00 kio_file [kdeinit] file /tmp/ksocket-root
visa 5005 0.0 0.3 5404 3012 pts/2 Ss 17:15 0:00 /bin/bash
visa 5143 2.1 6.8 152704 53248 ? Sl 17:24 0:19 /usr/lib/firefox/firefox-bin
visa 5152 0.0 0.2 4672 2084 ? S 17:24 0:00 /usr/lib/libgconf2-4/gconfd-2 12
*****visa 5220 0.1 1.5 25100 11648 ? S 17:36 0:00 kdesu -u root -c kdesu adept_installer
root 5223 0.0 0.0 1460 324 pts/3 Ss+ 17:36 0:00 /usr/bin/kdesu_stub -
root 5226 0.0 0.1 2544 976 pts/4 Ss+ 17:36 0:00 /usr/bin/sudo -u root /usr/bin/kdesu_stub
visa 5228 0.0 0.5 47928 4204 ? Ss 17:38 0:00 /usr/bin/artsd -F 10 -S 4096 -s 60 -m art
root 5231 0.0 0.1 2472 984 pts/2 R+ 17:39 0:00 ps -aux

The output of the "pstree" command should give you a better idea of the right process to kill. Can you post the results here ?

About your java install issue, did you use the keyboard to press that button, rather than the mouse ?

David

Funny, I have this same problem too. I too had an error with installing Java. Froze up at about 60% and I had to close the window. Here is a ps -x, if anyone could shed some light it would be greatly appreciated.

PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND
4594 ? Ss 0:00 /bin/sh /usr/bin/startkde
4634 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/bin/ssh-agent /usr/bin/dbus-launch --exit-with-s
4637 ? S 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-launch --exit-with-session /usr/local/b
4638 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid 9 --print-add
4639 ? SL 17:41 Xgl -fullscreen :1 -ac -br -accel glxbuffer -accel
4683 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid 9 --print-add
4684 ? S 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-launch --exit-with-session startkde
4714 ? S 0:00 start_kdeinit --new-startup +kcminit_startup
4715 ? Ss 0:00 kdeinit Running...
4718 ? S 0:00 dcopserver [kdeinit] --nosid
4721 ? S 0:00 klauncher [kdeinit] --new-startup
4723 ? S 0:04 kded [kdeinit] --new-startup
4729 ? S 0:00 kwrapper ksmserver
4731 ? S 0:00 ksmserver [kdeinit]
4732 ? S 0:11 kwin [kdeinit]
4734 ? S 0:10 kdesktop [kdeinit]
4736 ? S 0:08 kicker [kdeinit]
4752 ? S 0:02 /usr/bin/artsd -F 10 -S 4096 -a alsa -s 60 -m artsmes
4755 ? S 0:00 kaccess [kdeinit]
4758 ? S 0:00 kmix [kdeinit] -session 10d8cecf960001110654581000000
4759 ? S 0:00 katapult -session 10d9d396680001126806606000000812800
4764 ? S 0:00 aspell -a -S -C -Tutf8 --encoding=utf-8
4765 ? S 0:22 gaim --session 10d9d1da61000117483373600000047490021
4772 ? S 0:00 /usr/bin/python /usr/share/python-support/kde-guidanc
4774 ? S 0:00 /usr/bin/passkey-agent --default /usr/lib/kdebluetoot
4778 ? S 0:00 kbluetoothd --dontforceshow
4779 ? S 0:00 knotify [kdeinit]
4781 ? S 0:00 klipper [kdeinit]
4786 ? S 0:14 /usr/bin/python /usr/share/python-support/kde-guidanc
4794 ? S 0:00 /usr/bin/kdesud
4872 ? S 0:00 kio_uiserver [kdeinit]
4924 ? S 0:00 /usr/lib/libgconf2-4/gconfd-2 13
5257 ? S 0:00 kio_file [kdeinit] file /tmp/ksocket-default/klaunche
5714 ? S 0:00 /bin/sh /home/default/firefox/firefox
5717 ? S 0:00 /bin/sh /home/default/firefox/run-mozilla.sh /home/de
5721 ? Sl 2:27 /home/default/firefox/firefox-bin
5734 ? Z 0:00 [netstat] <defunct>
5992 ? S 0:00 konsole [kdeinit]
5993 pts/1 Ss 0:00 /bin/bash
6009 pts/1 R+ 0:00 ps -x

When I had Kubuntu installed I found adept was a PITA. I just installed synaptic instead and uninstalled the adept.

Synaptic is more straight forward.

When installing java or another package that might require you to accept licencing conditions, if you haven't got a "show details" window open, it often just seems to have hung, it should (in theory, and with the show details window open) just allow you to use the left/right arrow keys to highlight yes or no and then hit enter. that always worked for me.

regards

John

p.s. but I also saw the light when I found out just how restrictive the *buntus can be and installed SIDUX

init─┬─acpid
├─adept_notifier
├─amarokapp─┬─2*[ruby]
│ └─4*[{amarokapp}]
├─anacron
├─apt-index-watch
├─artsd───2*[{artsd}]
├─atd
├─cron
├─cupsd
├─2*[dbus-daemon]
├─dbus-launch
├─dcopserver
├─dd
├─dhclient3
├─events/0
├─gconfd-2
├─6*[getty]
├─hald───hald-runner─┬─hald-addon-acpi
│ ├─hald-addon-keyb
│ └─hald-addon-stor
├─hcid
├─hpiod
├─kaccess
├─kbluetoothd
├─kded
├─kdeinit─┬─firefox-bin─┬─netstat
│ │ └─10*[{firefox-bin}]
│ ├─katapult───aspell
│ ├─kate
│ ├─11*[kio_file]
│ ├─kio_system
│ ├─kio_trash
│ ├─klauncher
│ ├─konqueror
│ └─kwin
├─kdesktop
├─kdm─┬─Xorg
│ └─kdm───x-session-manag─┬─kwrapper
│ └─ssh-agent
├─khelper
├─kicker
├─kio_uiserver
├─klipper
├─klogd
├─kmix
├─knodemgrd_0
├─knotify
├─krfcommd
├─ksmserver
├─ksoftirqd/0
├─kswapd0
├─kthread─┬─aio/0
│ ├─ata/0
│ ├─kacpi_notify
│ ├─kacpid
│ ├─kblockd/0
│ ├─khpsbpkt
│ ├─khubd
│ ├─kjournald
│ ├─kpsmoused
│ ├─kseriod
│ ├─2*[pdflush]
│ ├─scsi_eh_0
│ ├─scsi_eh_1
│ └─shpchpd
├─logd
├─migration/0
├─passkey-agent
├─python
├─sdpd
├─start_kdeinit
├─syslogd
├─udevd
├─watchdog/0
└─yakuake───bash───pstree

Here is the pstree command output. Don't let the adept notifier process fool you, it starts with the system automatically, and I've tried killing it off.

I did have the "show details" window open while installing java, and I also tried enter, space and various other buttons (IOW smashing the keyboard with my fist) while trying to accept the license...

I had this same issue. I killed off the proccess and didn't get the same error when starting Adept. However I would still get an error if I went to install a package. I ran sudo apt-get check and then followed the advice it gave. It re-installed the Sun Java and now adept works fine.

run apt-get from konsole, then you don't have to worry about the GUI freezing up...

As much as I appreciate the last piece of advice by Reddragonsfury, I'd still prefer getting the matter fixed. I have no problems compiling the programs I need myself, but the point is getting the system functioning, if not perfectly, then preferably at least well.

I agree, and while my apt-get usually works well, I still have the hang-ups here and there. I got through the java without incident, but my most recent was trying to install googleearth through the GUI. No matter what I could not get it to let me agree to the license agreement. Had to resort to CLI to get it done.

Had to run: dpkg --configure -a
Then: apt-get check
and lastly: apt-get install googleearth

If anyone knows why the GUI hangs, and what work around patch(es) there are to prevent it, I would definetly like to know.

Hello again,
Just to clear this up, I found this on another forum:

sudo dpkg --configure dpkg
This cleared the problem for me! (even though it did give out an error)
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=144963&page=2

This is very similar than what Reddragonsfury suggested,
Thanks for all the help. I still don't understand how did the system stop functioning, and why does this fix the problem, so if someone with more insight stumbles upon this, I would appreciate some information as to the reasons for this problem to appear in the first place.

I'm not sure why the problems occur, if I did know, I would probably be a part of the development team, instead of ranting on the random post...

Having used Ubuntu for the last year or so, I've found that the Synaptic package manager is less likely to err than Adept. I like the Adept GUI better than Synaptic, but with Synaptic there are fewer times that I have to drop back into the CLI to fix problems, not sure why Ubuntu switched to Adept in the Edgy and Feisty releases.

But, then again, this is just one guys opinion, not advice for the masses. The true Linux guru's still run everything CLI anyway...

Glad that you got your issue fixed, and wish that I would have had some helpful insight earlier!