A lock is preventing me from installing ClamAV on Ubuntu Studio 20.04

I cannot install clamav on ubuntu studio 20.04. Seems to be a "front-end" lock in folder "var/lib/dpkg" What is this lock, and how do i unlock it to install my AV?

Solution 1:

There are times when the OS runs auto-updates. When that happens, it will apt-get install <new packages> (mainly Linux kernels). While doing that installation, it blocks you from using apt-get again.

As mentioned by Terrance, you could try running the command in a terminal:

sudo apt install clamav

which is not a bad idea since the error in that case is likely going to be much clearer.

One way to see whether apt is already running is to use:

ps -ef | grep apt

or use htop (you should see apt near the top, you can also filter by typing F4 and then entering apt + Enter.) I often use htop in order to see when apt is done and then run my own commands.

Without htop, you can use watch 'ps -ef | grep apt'. Ubuntu has watch installed by default, not htop.