Another app is currently holding the yum lock; waiting for it to exit

I'm trying to install wireshark on Fedora(latest version with gnome3) and I keep getting the error.

Another app is currently holding the yum lock; waiting for it to exit...

I keep killing the offending process after finding it's pid using ps aux | grep yum, but the same process spawns again with a different pid.

root      1605  0.0  3.4  54424 26228 ?   SN   10:51   0:02 /usr/bin/python     
/usr/share/PackageKit/helpers/yum/yumBackend.py get-updates none

How can I properly kill this process, or use yum to install wireshark properly?

user77017

Posted 2011-07-22T14:46:18.660

Reputation: 127

1A lot of the answers here show how to prevent it from happening in general but not how to solve the problem if you're stuck in the situation currently. I tried a suggestion in an answer from another question: to remove /var/run/yum.pid and it instantly resolved the problem. – clearlight – 2017-09-14T19:42:00.207

What is the process? – Pricey – 2011-07-22T15:24:21.887

updated with the result of ps aux | grep yum to show process – user77017 – 2011-07-22T15:44:52.393

Answers

That is PackageKit attempting to update the yum database so that it can show you a desktop icon when there are updates to apply.

It should only run for short periods - if it is failing to complete then it suggests there is some sort of problem with your yum configuration such that it is hanging trying to update the status of one of the repositories or something.

TomH

Posted 2011-07-22T14:46:18.660

Reputation: 2 558

unfortunately that actually makes sense in my case, the internet here is abysmal/filtered – user77017 – 2011-07-22T16:40:10.243

2ok nevermind, I restarted and now I can use yum. I feel like I'm working on Windows. – user77017 – 2011-07-22T16:59:49.830

1@user77017 I feel like I'm working on Windows - Recompile your distribution to use a package manager other than yum. Should give you that Linux feeling. – ta.speot.is – 2011-07-25T04:40:07.653

lol todda, recompiling is annoying and time consuming, I would rather the default package manager work properly with yum – user77017 – 2011-07-26T20:29:59.217

If you really don't like PackageKit, you can remove it by running the following command as root:

 yum remove PackageKit

You can also disable PackageKit from checking for updates by running gpk-prefs from the terminal:

 gpk-prefs &disown

In the preferences window, change Check for updates to never.

Adam Prax

Posted 2011-07-22T14:46:18.660

Reputation: 921

Stop the daemon of packagekit with:

service packagekitd stop

I don't remember if the name is "packagekitd". I also don't remember if in the last versions of fedora PK is a daemon or only a user process.

If you want disable the process check the command "ntsysv" as root in a terminal and the autostart applications in your desktop preferences.

For your problem with the internet connection and the download of packages, check the plugin fastestmirror for yum. The configuration is very simple. Also use the presto plugin.

Rufo El Magufo

Posted 2011-07-22T14:46:18.660

Reputation: 615

It doesn't work like that, at least on F15, though it might do on earlier versions. On F15 it is dbus activated, so it starts as soon as somebody (the Gnome control centre applet most likely) tries to talk to it over dbus. – TomH – 2011-07-25T07:38:46.643

You're right https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=699263 .

– Rufo El Magufo – 2011-07-25T16:23:18.277

There is a very simple solution to this problem.

The "PackageKit" process will only start if your computer is idle. With this in mind we should just log out of Linux and log back in. We should, then, immediately open a terminal window and run yum before the system can go idle.

That's it!

DrupalFever

Posted 2011-07-22T14:46:18.660

Reputation: 131

I found a way to correct this problem.

You can turn off the system auto update, and can resolve it.

In China, I tested it this way and it works well.

volcanol

Posted 2011-07-22T14:46:18.660

Reputation: 11

Hi and Welcome to Super User! Maybe you could explain how to do this to make your answer a little more detailed? Just a thought. – slm – 2013-07-01T13:58:43.467

To disable packagekit: in terminal run gpk-prefs and select "Check for updates: Never ". – Nav – 2014-01-15T04:25:13.530