Potential lock failure on brtfs

Just for the histroy record: In previous versions update-manager used synaptic and not python-apt to install updates (only the partial dist upgrade uses python-apt).

Actually apt and aptdaemon share the same lock files and I cannot reproduce this error.

Have you installed Ubuntu on your hard drive? Do you use a live cd? Do you use a special file system?

Sorry, I believe I meant "synaptic backend" when I said "apt backend" in the description. If I recall correctly, there was an attempt at switching backends a couple of releases ago, which was finally pulled back due to aptdaemon not being mature enough at that moment. I learned about the backends in bug reports back then and might have confused the names over time.

Yup, this is a proper installation of maverick. I'm using btrfs for both the / and /home filesystems, I don't know if that qualifies as special.

No problem. You are the user. I have to say sorry for the bug :)

Could you please start Synaptic and then try to perform an installation using apt-get and software-center. The former one should fail since it cannot acquire the lock and the latter one should wait until synaptic is closed.

Could be a file system issue.

Ok, if I start Synaptic:
- 'apt-get update' complains that:
  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?
- update-manager -> Check says "Waiting for Synaptic to exit"
which is all correct.

However, if I do 'apt-get update' and immediately hit 'Check' in update-manager, a window pops up saying:

"
An unhandled error occured

There seems to be a programming error in aptdaemon, the software that allows you to install/remove software and to perform other package management related tasks. Please report this error at http://launchpad.net/aptdaemon/+filebug and retry.

Details:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/aptdaemon/worker.py", line 163, in _process_transaction
    self.update_cache(**self.trans.kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/aptdaemon/worker.py", line 589, in update_cache
    self._cache.update(progress, sources_list=sources_list)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/apt/deprecation.py", line 98, in deprecated_function
    return func(*args, **kwds)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 343, in update
    raise LockFailedException("Failed to lock %s" % lockfile)
LockFailedException: Failed to lock /var/lib/apt/lists/lock
"

Then, if I do 'apt-get install frozen-bubble' and open update-manager:
- during the download of packages, update-manager opens fine and pressing "Check" says "Waiting for apt-get to exit"
- during the actual installation, update-manager opens with the behaviour as in the bug description above (i.e., something breaks it during the "Building data structures" etc stage)

I just installed Ubuntu 10.10 and when I use the update manager it locks up in the window that says it is waiting for apt get to exit.

I have to close the prompt for authentication in Update Manager as well as Ubuntu Software Center. After the authentication, the window stays there until it is closed.