Ubuntu
software-center package

Ubuntu Software Center constantly crashing and/or freezing

Asked by Rajiv Shah

It seems to always happen when installing a .deb file

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu software-center Edit question
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Solved by:
Mark Rijckenberg
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
N1ck 7h0m4d4k15 (nicktux) said : 		#1

Open a terminal (CTRL+ALT+T) and run the commands below , one by one.

    sudo apt-get update
   wget "http://ubuntuone.com/0ICkCmT1wApuztG3am53cZ" -O ~/software-center-fix
   chmod +x software-center-fix
   sudo ./software-center-fix

Probably your problem will be solved with above commands, but IF NOT , then post full results back here.

Regards
 NikTh

Revision history for this message
Rajiv Shah (rajivshah3) said : 		#2

For command 1, it reported this:
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com raring Release.gpg
Get:1 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security Release.gpg [933 B]
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net raring Release.gpg
Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com raring-updates Release.gpg [933 B]
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security Release
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net raring Release
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com raring Release
Err http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security Release

Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com raring-updates Release
Err http://archive.ubuntu.com raring-updates Release

Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net raring/main amd64 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com raring/main amd64 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com raring/restricted amd64 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com raring/universe amd64 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com raring/multiverse amd64 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com raring/main Translation-en
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com raring/multiverse Translation-en
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com raring/restricted Translation-en
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com raring/universe Translation-en
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net raring/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net raring/main Translation-en
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com raring/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com raring/multiverse Translation-en_US
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com raring/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com raring/universe Translation-en_US
Fetched 1,866 B in 2s (807 B/s)
Reading package lists... Done
W: A error occurred during the signature verification. The repository is not updated and the previous index files will be used. GPG error: http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security Release: The following signatures were invalid: BADSIG 40976EAF437D05B5 Ubuntu Archive Automatic Signing Key <email address hidden>

W: A error occurred during the signature verification. The repository is not updated and the previous index files will be used. GPG error: http://archive.ubuntu.com raring-updates Release: The following signatures were invalid: BADSIG 40976EAF437D05B5 Ubuntu Archive Automatic Signing Key <email address hidden>

W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/raring-security/Release

W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/raring-updates/Release

W: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

For command 2, it reported this:
--2013-05-23 19:25:34-- http://ubuntuone.com/0ICkCmT1wApuztG3am53cZ
Resolving ubuntuone.com (ubuntuone.com)... 91.189.89.205, 91.189.89.204
Connecting to ubuntuone.com (ubuntuone.com)|91.189.89.205|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 568 [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: ‘/home/rajiv/software-center-fix’

100%[======================================>] 568 --.-K/s in 0s

2013-05-23 19:25:35 (18.8 MB/s) - ‘/home/rajiv/software-center-fix’ saved [568/568]

For command 4, it reported this:
sudo: unable to write to /var/lib/sudo/rajiv/2: No space left on device
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  hddtemp libpanel-applet-4-0 libsensors-applet-plugin0
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  software-center* ubuntu-desktop*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 2 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 3,647 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error, aborting:
 unable to fill /var/lib/dpkg/updates/tmp.i with padding: No space left on device
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)
Reading plugin /usr/share/apt-xapian-index/plugins/aliases.py.
Reading plugin /usr/share/apt-xapian-index/plugins/app-install.py.
Reading plugin /usr/share/apt-xapian-index/plugins/apttags.py.
Reading plugin /usr/share/apt-xapian-index/plugins/cataloged_time.py.
Reading plugin /usr/share/apt-xapian-index/plugins/debtags.py.
Reading plugin /usr/share/apt-xapian-index/plugins/descriptions.py.
Reading plugin /usr/share/apt-xapian-index/plugins/display_name.py.
Reading plugin /usr/share/apt-xapian-index/plugins/origin.py.
Reading plugin /usr/share/apt-xapian-index/plugins/relations.py.
Reading plugin /usr/share/apt-xapian-index/plugins/sections.py.
Reading plugin /usr/share/apt-xapian-index/plugins/sizes.py.
Reading plugin /usr/share/apt-xapian-index/plugins/software_center.py.
Reading plugin /usr/share/apt-xapian-index/plugins/template.py.
Reading plugin /usr/share/apt-xapian-index/plugins/translated-desc.py.
Most recent dataset: Thu May 23 19:24:06 2013.
Most recent update for: Sun May 19 21:34:50 2013.
Aggregating value information.
Initializing plugins.
Reading .desktop files from /usr/share/app-install/desktop/: done.
Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_distsReading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_raring-security_restricted_i18n_Translation-en: done.
Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_raring-updates_restricted_i18n_Translation-en: done.
Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_raring-updates_universe_i18n_Translation-en: done.
Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_raring_restricted_i18n_Translation-en: done.
Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_raring_main_i18n_Translation-en: done.
Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_raring_multiverse_i18n_Translation-en: done.
Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_raring-updates_main_i18n_Translation-en: done.
Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_distsReading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_raring-security_universe_i18n_Translation-en: done.
Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_distsReading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_raring-security_multiverse_i18n_Translation-en: done.
Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_distsReading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_raring-security_main_i18n_Translation-en: done.
Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_raring-updates_multiverse_i18n_Translation-en: done.
Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_raring_universe_i18n_Translation-en: done.
Rebuilding Xapian index... 0%
apitrace-gl-frontend:qapitrace.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
apitrace-gl-frontend:qapitrace.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
arc-gui-clients:arcstat-ui.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
arc-gui-clients:arcstat-ui.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
arc-gui-clients:arcproxy-ui.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
arc-gui-clients:arcproxy-ui.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
arc-gui-clients:arcsub-ui.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
arc-gui-clients:arcsub-ui.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
arc-gui-clients:arccert-ui.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
arc-gui-clients:arccert-ui.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
arc-gui-clients:arcstorage-ui.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
arc-gui-clients:arcstorage-ui.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
Rebuilding Xapian index... 4%
chinese-calendar:chinese-calendar.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
chinese-calendar:chinese-calendar.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
Rebuilding Xapian index... 8%
drumkv1:drumkv1.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
drumkv1:drumkv1.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
Rebuilding Xapian index... 10%
expeyes-doc-common:expeyes-junior-doc.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
expeyes-doc-common:expeyes-junior-doc.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
expeyes-doc-common:expeyes-doc.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
expeyes-doc-common:expeyes-doc.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
Rebuilding Xapian index... 11%
firewall-applet:firewall-applet.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
firewall-applet:firewall-applet.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
firewall-applet:firewall-config.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
firewall-applet:firewall-config.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
five-or-more:glines.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
five-or-more:glines.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
Rebuilding Xapian index... 12%
four-in-a-row:four-in-a-row.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
four-in-a-row:four-in-a-row.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
Rebuilding Xapian index... 16%
gnome-calculator:gcalctool.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
gnome-calculator:gcalctool.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
gnome-klotski:gnome-klotski.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
gnome-klotski:gnome-klotski.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
gnome-mines:gnome-mines.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
gnome-mines:gnome-mines.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
gnome-nibbles:gnome-nibbles.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
gnome-nibbles:gnome-nibbles.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
gnome-robots:gnome-robots.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
gnome-robots:gnome-robots.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
gnome-tetravex:gnome-tetravex.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
gnome-tetravex:gnome-tetravex.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
Rebuilding Xapian index... 19%
ibus-libpinyin:ibus-setup-libbopomofo.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
ibus-libpinyin:ibus-setup-libbopomofo.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
ibus-libpinyin:ibus-setup-libpinyin.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
ibus-libpinyin:ibus-setup-libpinyin.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
Rebuilding Xapian index... 20%
indicator-china-weather:indicator-china-weather.desktop: parsing X-AppInstall-Popcon: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
Rebuilding Xapian index... 22%
x

x
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/sbin/update-apt-xapian-index", line 108, in <module>
    indexer.rebuild(opts.pkgfile)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/axi/indexer.py", line 744, in rebuild
    self.buildIndex(dbdir, generator)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/axi/indexer.py", line 707, in buildIndex
    db = xapian.WritableDatabase(pathname, xapian.DB_CREATE_OR_OVERWRITE)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/xapian/__init__.py", line 4303, in __init__
    _xapian.WritableDatabase_swiginit(self,_xapian.new_WritableDatabase(*args))
xapian.DatabaseCreateError: Cannot create directory `/var/cache/apt-xapian-index/index.3' (No space left on device)
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com raring Release.gpg
Get:1 http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security Release.gpg [933 B]
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net raring Release.gpg
Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com raring-updates Release.gpg [933 B]
Err http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security Release.gpg
  Error writing to output file - write (28: No space left on device) [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security Release
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net raring Release
Err http://archive.ubuntu.com raring-updates Release.gpg
  Error writing to output file - write (28: No space left on device) [IP: 91.189.91.15 80]
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com raring Release
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net raring/main amd64 Packages
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net raring/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net raring/main Translation-en
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com raring-security/main amd64 Packages/DiffIndex
E: Could not open file /var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_raring-security_main_binary-amd64_Packages.IndexDiff - open (2: No such file or directory)
Reading package lists... Error!
E: Write error - write (28: No space left on device)
E: IO Error saving source cache
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
Reading package lists... Error!
E: Unable to synchronize mmap - msync (28: No space left on device)
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
Updating software catalog...this may take a moment.
INFO:softwarecenter.db.pkginfo_impl.aptcache:aptcache.open()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/sbin/update-software-center", line 176, in <module>
    pathname, appinfo_dir=options.app_install_desktop_dir)
  File "/usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/db/update.py", line 1128, in rebuild_database
    cache.open()
  File "/usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/db/pkginfo_impl/aptcache.py",

line 261, in open
    self._cache = apt.Cache(progress)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 105, in __init__
    self.open(progress)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 150, in open
    self._cache = apt_pkg.Cache(progress)
SystemError: E:Unable to synchronize mmap - msync (28: No space left on device), E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
Updating software catalog...this may take a moment.
INFO:softwarecenter.db.pkginfo_impl.aptcache:aptcache.open()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/sbin/update-software-center", line 176, in <module>
    pathname, appinfo_dir=options.app_install_desktop_dir)
  File "/usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/db/update.py", line 1128, in rebuild_database
    cache.open()
  File "/usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/db/pkginfo_impl/aptcache.py", line 261, in open
    self._cache = apt.Cache(progress)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 105, in __init__
    self.open(progress)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 150, in open
    self._cache = apt_pkg.Cache(progress)
SystemError: E:Unable to synchronize mmap - msync (28: No space left on device), E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
Reading package lists... Error!
E: Unable to synchronize mmap - msync (28: No space left on device)
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

It keeps saying Ubuntu Software Center had a problem (or maybe it said crashed).

Revision history for this message
N1ck 7h0m4d4k15 (nicktux) said : 		#3

FIRST reboot your PC once.
Then open a terminal and..
..Run these commands one by one and post back full results

    sudo apt-key adv --recv-key --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 40976EAF437D05B5
    sudo apt-get --purge autoremove
    sudo apt-get autoclean
    sudo apt-get purge $(dpkg -l | awk '/^rc/ { print $2 }')
    sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/* -vf
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Regards
 NikTh

Revision history for this message
Best Mark Rijckenberg (markrijckenberg) said : 		#4

The only true issue here (it seems) is the following error message:

dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error, aborting:
 unable to fill /var/lib/dpkg/updates/tmp.i with padding: No space left on device

So your harddisk is full and that is why Ubuntu Software Center is crashing.

I suggest freeing up diskspace by deleting old kernels that are located in /boot

You could use the following bash shell script to delete old Linux kernels:

I suggest saving the script below as the file removekernel.sh and then making the file removekernel.sh executable:

#!/bin/bash
# TYPE: Bash script.
# PURPOSE: This bash shell script allows to easily remove GNU/Linux kernels.
# The script should be copied to /usr/bin/removekernel and set as executable.
# It is a poor man's alternative to Ubuntu Tweak.
# REQUIRES: bash, Ubuntu 12.04 LTS or newer
# REVISED: 20130302
# REVISED: 20130516

   echo "Please press one of the 4 numbers below and then hit the <ENTER> key to execute"

select CHOICE in list-installed-kernels remove-a-specific-kernel remove-all-previous-kernels quit
   do
case "$CHOICE" in

     list-installed-kernels)

     echo "List of currently installed Linux kernels"
     dpkg --list | grep linux-image | egrep '^[r,i]i' | cut -d" " -f3

     ;;
     remove-a-specific-kernel)

     echo "List of currently installed Linux kernels"
     dpkg --list | grep linux-image | egrep '^[r,i]i' | cut -d" " -f3
     echo "Please enter kernel package to uninstall from your pc (for example: linux-image-3.9.0-030900rc5-generic) "
     read KERNELVERSION
     apt-cache search $KERNELVERSION|cut -d" " -f1|xargs sudo apt-get remove -y

     ;;
     remove-all-previous-kernels)

     echo "Will now purge all the following kernel packages:"
     dpkg -l 'linux-*' | grep -v libc| sed '/^ii/!d;/'"$(uname -r | sed "s/\(.*\)-\([^0-9]\+\)/\1/")"'/d;s/^[^ ]* [^ ]* \([^ ]*\).*/\1/;/[0-9]/!d'
     dpkg -l 'linux-*' | grep -v libc| sed '/^ii/!d;/'"$(uname -r | sed "s/\(.*\)-\([^0-9]\+\)/\1/")"'/d;s/^[^ ]* [^ ]* \([^ ]*\).*/\1/;/[0-9]/!d' | xargs sudo apt-get -y purge

     ;;
     quit)

     exit

     ;;
        esac

done

Revision history for this message
Rajiv Shah (rajivshah3) said : 		#5

Thanks Mark Rijckenberg, that solved my question.