Hello.

My Ubuntu Software Center hangs on an installation of a downloaded .deb file from astah-community. It's a tool for UML software design.

The installation was almost complete and then got stuck for some reason. I tried to click cancel but that didn't work. I closed USC and when I opened it again nothing had changed. I shut down the computer, restartet, opened USC and it was still there.

I am new to ubuntu, so how can I get the installation cancelled? I saw another post on a similar problem, where the problem was solved with:
sudo dpkg --purge --force-all astah-community
but I got:
dpkg: status database area is locked by another process
I'm all out of ideas. Can anyone help?

I assume this is the thread you are referring to:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ackage-847795/
If tying the suggestions I gave in that thread do not work for you, then I am afraid I don't have anything else to offer. Try running all of the suggestions I presented in that thread.

NOTE: Did you have the software center or synaptic package manager open when you ran that command? The "dpkg: status database area is locked by another process" can happen if you have another package manager open when you run package management commands from the terminal. See these:
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-25407.html
http://au.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=10012663

Are you able to install updates and other packages? What happens if you run from the terminal:
If you get errors, then post them here.

You are the second person that has had this problem. It seems that the astah-community .deb package is either corrupted or it is just incompatible with Ubuntu. I would not use it.

In the future, stick with packages from the Ubuntu repositories for the best results. Use packages from third party repositories with caution, if at all, and you will avoid problems.

And welcome to the LQ forums!

Thanks!

And no, I can't install other packages from USC. I can click "install", but nothing happens. Btw the astah package reads as installed and "removing".

All-right! I've looked into it and killed the USC in System Monitor and then:

sudo apt-get update
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/apt/lists/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock directory /var/lib/apt/lists/
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?

and:
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?

And the other commands yields:
sudo dpkg --clear-avail && sudo apt-get update
dpkg: status database area is locked by another process

and:
sudo apt-get install -f
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?

and:
sudo dpkg --configure -a
dpkg: status database area is locked by another process

and:
sudo dpkg --purge --force-all astah-community
dpkg: status database area is locked by another process

However when I ran:
sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock

followed by:
sudo dpkg --configure -a

I didn't get an error in the terminal but when I opened USC again, the problem remained, and killed it.Then I tried to run the Update Manager in partial mode, but it can't get exclusive lock. In the USC it reads "in progress(1)". Would it help to kill some other related process maybe?

Reboot the computer to start fresh. Then try running those two commands again.
Then immediately run:
And see if you can update without errors. Do not open the software center. From the searching I have done, those errors only seem to occur when another package managers are running.
http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-fix...ble-error.html

I am not sure what else you could try here. That astah-community package must be really screwed up to cause this kind of a mess.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS!

When I started from hibernation, there was a stop sign in the upper status bar of the desktop. I hovered over it and the tool-tip said something like "start pakage manager - it seem the astah-community package is missing dependecies" - so I did and it asked me to upgrade my distro - it did and deleted the package. When I just restated the problem was gone !!!

Guess it kinda overruled the previous errors...

Is there a way to see what actually happened? Maybe that can help others...

What version of Ubuntu are you currently running? Your profile says 10.10. When you say "upgrade my distro", I am assuming you mean just the regular updates, and not an upgrade to a newer version of Ubuntu. Is that correct?
If you tried running the commands I posted in the other thread on this issue: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ackage-847795/ Then I suppose those commands got rid of the rogue astah-community package. They worked for the other guy in the other thread on this issue.
Anyway, glad you got this fixed. I was pretty much out of ideas on this.