Oh, honey, let me tell you, this computer thing is giving me a headache. I was trying to do something, I don’t even know what, something about “waiting for cache lock.” It kept saying, “could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend.” Sounds like a bunch of gibberish to me! I’m just trying to fix this darn thing. Don’t know why these newfangled things gotta be so complicated.
So, I asked that young whippersnapper down the street, you know, the one who’s always on his phone. He said something about a “lock” being stuck. He says that another thingy is using it. And this “lock” it’s like a door, and only one thingy can go through at a time. He mumbled something about “process” and a number, like 3321, or something. Said it was like someone hogging the bathroom when you really gotta go! I told him, “Speak plain English, boy!” He just rolled his eyes. Kids these days!
He said, “Try this, ma’am.” He typed some stuff on my computer. First he typed, I remember this one, “sudo apt install” something. He said it was like calling for a handyman. I don’t think that did it. It just gave me more of that “waiting for cache lock: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend” stuff. Then he was typing this: “sudo apt upgrade” or “sudo apt update”. And he told me it was like cleaning up the house. These young’uns love their cleaning. He told me this should work. But nope, still locked!
- First, they said, “sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/lock” or “sudo rm /var/cache/apt/archives/lock”.
- Then he told me to do this: “sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock”. Said it was like throwing out the trash. He said to be careful, though. Don’t want to throw out the wrong thing, or the whole house might fall down! I reckon that’s true with these computer things, too. He told me that this is important. “Ubuntu could not get lock” he said.
- He also said to check if something is still running, using “ps afx|grep dpkg”. Don’t ask me what that means. Something about checking if the bathroom is still occupied, I think.
- If there is still a lock, he told me to do “sudo killall dpkg”. Said it’s like kicking everyone out of the bathroom so you can finally go.
Then he says, you have to see if this other thing is running in the back. So you type in “ps aux | grep -i apt”. He says this means you are peeking through the keyhole. Honestly, I just nod along.
He went on and on, but I think I got the gist of it. It’s like when you’re trying to get into the outhouse, and someone else is already in there. You gotta wait your turn, or maybe knock politely. But sometimes, you just gotta tell ’em to hurry it up!
This whole “waiting for cache lock” thing is just like that. You gotta find out who’s hogging the outhouse, and tell ’em to get out. That’s what all that typing is about, I reckon. It’s like shouting at the outhouse door, hoping they’ll hear you.
Then they said I need to do this “sudo rm” thing. They said it’s like cleaning out the shed. You gotta get rid of the old junk before you can put anything new in there. And that “/var/lib/dpkg/lock” thing is like an old rusty lock on the shed door. You gotta get rid of it before you can put a new one on.
So, you type in “sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock”. And that’s supposed to do the trick. This “Var Lib Dpkg Lock Frontend” sounds like a name of a cow to me! Like Betsy, our old milk cow.
I swear, these computers are more trouble than they’re worth. Back in my day, we didn’t have all these fancy gadgets. We got along just fine without ’em. We wrote letters, we talked face-to-face. Now everyone’s got their noses stuck in these screens. It’s a crying shame, I tell ya.
Anyways, that boy finally got the thing working. It’s still got that “waiting for cache lock” message. He said he fixed the lock frontend thingy. I don’t know what that’s about. I think it is fixed now. He said something about, “could not get lock” error message in Ubuntu. He said it’s all about updating software or installing software. I don’t know about these things. I just wanted to check my email. Maybe I should just stick to my old typewriter. Less hassle, that’s for sure.
Well, I hope this helps someone. If you’re having the same problem, maybe you can try what that boy did. Or maybe you can just find yourself a young whippersnapper to do it for you. Good luck, honey. You’ll need it!
