I can't install or uninstall anything

Sorry this is the final part of the log wih the error:

dpkg: error processing package remmina-plugin-secret:amd64 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.3-2ubuntu0.1) ...
Processing triggers for dbus (1.12.2-1ubuntu1.1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.27-3ubuntu1) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 libpam-systemd:amd64
 libssl1.1:amd64
 openssl
 ca-certificates
 bbswitch-dkms
 software-properties-common
 libfreerdp2-2:amd64
 libwinpr2-2:amd64
 remmina
 openvpn
 libfreerdp-client2-2:amd64
 software-properties-gtk
 remmina-plugin-rdp:amd64
 google-chrome-stable
 remmina-plugin-vnc:amd64
 network-manager-openvpn
 remmina-plugin-secret:amd64
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

For diagnostic purposes please provide the full output that you receive for the commands

uname -a
lsb_release -crid
sudo apt update
sudo dpkg --audit
apt-cache policy remmina-plugin-secret:amd64
sudo apt install -f

Hi Manfred,
These are the requested outputs:

root@AR-IT12097:~# uname -a
Linux AR-IT12097 5.3.0-53-generic #47~18.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Thu May 7 13:10:50 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
root@AR-IT12097:~# lsb_release -crid
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS
Release: 18.04
Codename: bionic
root@AR-IT12097:~# sudo apt update
Hit:1 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease
Hit:2 http://prerelease.keybase.io/deb stable InRelease
Hit:3 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Get:4 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security InRelease [88,7 kB]
Get:5 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates InRelease [88,7 kB]
Hit:6 http://archive.canonical.com bionic InRelease
Hit:7 https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian bionic InRelease
Get:8 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports InRelease [74,6 kB]
Get:10 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main i386 Packages [685 kB]
Hit:9 https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt kubernetes-xenial InRelease
Get:11 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 Packages [951 kB]
Get:12 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [306 kB]
Get:13 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/universe i386 Packages [1.018 kB]
Get:14 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/universe amd64 Packages [1.077 kB]
Get:15 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/universe amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [279 kB]
Get:16 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/multiverse amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [2.468 B]
Get:17 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports/universe amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [7.968 B]
Fetched 4.578 kB in 5s (1.006 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
All packages are up to date.
N: Skipping acquire of configured file 'contrib/binary-i386/Packages' as repository 'https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian bionic InRelease' doesn't support architecture 'i386'
root@AR-IT12097:~# sudo dpkg --audit
The following packages have been unpacked but not yet configured.
They must be configured using dpkg --configure or the configure
menu option in dselect for them to work:
 google-chrome-stable The web browser from Google
 libfreerdp-client2-2:amd64 Free Remote Desktop Protocol library (client library)
 libfreerdp2-2:amd64 Free Remote Desktop Protocol library (core library)
 libwinpr2-2:amd64 Windows Portable Runtime library
 network-manager-openvpn network management framework (OpenVPN plugin core)
 openssl Secure Sockets Layer toolkit - cryptographic utility
 remmina GTK+ Remote Desktop Client
 remmina-plugin-rdp:amd64 RDP plugin for Remmina
 remmina-plugin-secret:amd64 Secret plugin for Remmina
 remmina-plugin-vnc:amd64 VNC plugin for Remmina
 software-properties-common manage the repositories that you install software f
 software-properties-gtk manage the repositories that you install software from

The following packages are only half configured, probably due to problems
configuring them the first time. The configuration should be retried using
dpkg --configure <package> or the configure menu option in dselect:
 bbswitch-dkms Interface for toggling the power on NVIDIA Optimus video
 ca-certificates Common CA certificates
 libpam-systemd:amd64 system and service manager - PAM module
 libssl1.1:amd64 Secure Sockets Layer toolkit - shared libraries
 openvpn virtual private network daemon

root@AR-IT12097:~# apt-cache policy remmina-plugin-secret:amd64
remmina-plugin-secret:
  Installed: 1.2.0-rcgit.29+dfsg-1ubuntu1.2
  Candidate: 1.2.0-rcgit.29+dfsg-1ubuntu1.2
  Version table:
 *** 1.2.0-rcgit.29+dfsg-1ubuntu1.2 500
        500 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1.2.0-rcgit.29+dfsg-1ubuntu1 500
        500 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
root@AR-IT12097:~# sudo apt install -f
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
17 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
Setting up libpam-systemd:amd64 (237-3ubuntu10.41) ...
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
dpkg: error processing package libpam-systemd:amd64 (--configure):
 installed libpam-systemd:amd64 package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
Setting up libssl1.1:amd64 (1.1.1-1ubuntu2.1~18.04.6) ...
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
dpkg: error processing package libssl1.1:amd64 (--configure):
 installed libssl1.1:amd64 package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of openssl:
 openssl depends on libssl1.1 (>= 1.1.1); however:
  Package libssl1.1:amd64 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package openssl (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
                                                                                                          dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of ca-certificates:
 ca-certificates depends on openssl (>= 1.1.0); however:
  Package openssl is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package ca-certificates (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Setting up bbswitch-dkms (0.8-4ubuntu1) ...
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
dpkg: error processing package bbswitch-dkms (--configure):
 installed bbswitch-dkms package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of software-properties-common:
 software-properties-common depends on ca-certificates; however:
  Package ca-certificates is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package software-properties-common (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libfreerdp2-2:amd64:
 libfreerdp2-2:amd64 depends on libssl1.1 (>= 1.1.0); however:
  Package libssl1.1:amd64 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libfreerdp2-2:amd64 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libwinpr2-2:amd64:
 libwinpr2-2:amd64 depends on libssl1.1 (>= 1.1.0); however:
  Package libssl1.1:amd64 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libwinpr2-2:amd64 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of remmina:
 remmina depends on libssl1.1 (>= 1.1.0); however:
  Package libssl1.1:amd64 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package remmina (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of openvpn:
 openvpn depends on libssl1.1 (>= 1.1.0); however:
  Package libssl1.1:amd64 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package openvpn (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libfreerdp-client2-2:amd64:
 libfreerdp-client2-2:amd64 depends on libfreerdp2-2 (>= 2.1.0+dfsg1); however:
  Package libfreerdp2-2:amd64 is not configured yet.
 libfreerdp-client2-2:amd64 depends on libwinpr2-2 (>= 2.1.0+dfsg1); however:
  Package libwinpr2-2:amd64 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package libfreerdp-client2-2:amd64 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of software-properties-gtk:
 software-properties-gtk depends on software-properties-common; however:
  Package software-properties-common is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package software-properties-gtk (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of remmina-plugin-rdp:amd64:
 remmina-plugin-rdp:amd64 depends on libfreerdp-client2-2 (>= 2.0.0~git20160317.1.75ae3f5+dfsg1); however:
  Package libfreerdp-client2-2:amd64 is not configured yet.
 remmina-plugin-rdp:amd64 depends on libfreerdp2-2 (>= 2.0.0~git20160317.1.75ae3f5+dfsg1); however:
  Package libfreerdp2-2:amd64 is not configured yet.
 remmina-plugin-rdp:amd64 depends on libwinpr2-2 (>= 2.0.0~git20160317.1.75ae3f5+dfsg1); however:
  Package libwinpr2-2:amd64 is not configured yet.
 remmina-plugin-rdp:amd64 depends on remmina (= 1.2.0-rcgit.29+dfsg-1ubuntu1.2); however:
  Package remmina is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package remmina-plugin-rdp:amd64 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of google-chrome-stable:
 google-chrome-stable depends on ca-certificates; however:
  Package ca-certificates is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package google-chrome-stable (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of remmina-plugin-vnc:amd64:
 remmina-plugin-vnc:amd64 depends on remmina (= 1.2.0-rcgit.29+dfsg-1ubuntu1.2); however:
  Package remmina is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package remmina-plugin-vnc:amd64 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of network-manager-openvpn:
 network-manager-openvpn depends on openvpn (>= 2.1~rc9); however:
  Package openvpn is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package network-manager-openvpn (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of remmina-plugin-secret:amd64:
 remmina-plugin-secret:amd64 depends on remmina (= 1.2.0-rcgit.29+dfsg-1ubuntu1.2); however:
  Package remmina is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package remmina-plugin-secret:amd64 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.27-3ubuntu1) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 libpam-systemd:amd64
 libssl1.1:amd64
 openssl
 ca-certificates
 bbswitch-dkms
 software-properties-common
 libfreerdp2-2:amd64
 libwinpr2-2:amd64
 remmina
 openvpn
 libfreerdp-client2-2:amd64
 software-properties-gtk
 remmina-plugin-rdp:amd64
 google-chrome-stable
 remmina-plugin-vnc:amd64
 network-manager-openvpn
 remmina-plugin-secret:amd64
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Currently your package management system is in a stuck state, because there is a (probably stalled) install process still running and blocks all other activities.

Try again with these commands:

sudo fuser -vk /var/cache/debconf/config.dat
sudo apt install -f

and copy/paste the output into this question document.

Hi Manfred,
This is the output, looks like the issue was fixed:

$ sudo fuser -vk /var/cache/debconf/config.dat
Domain Password:
                     USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
/var/cache/debconf/config.dat:
                     root 9107 F.... frontend
$ sudo apt install -f
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
17 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Setting up libpam-systemd:amd64 (237-3ubuntu10.41) ...
Setting up libssl1.1:amd64 (1.1.1-1ubuntu2.1~18.04.6) ...
Setting up openssl (1.1.1-1ubuntu2.1~18.04.6) ...
Setting up ca-certificates (20190110~18.04.1) ...
Updating certificates in /etc/ssl/certs...
2 added, 8 removed; done.
Setting up bbswitch-dkms (0.8-4ubuntu1) ...
Loading new bbswitch-0.8 DKMS files...
Building for 5.3.0-53-generic
Building initial module for 5.3.0-53-generic
Done.

bbswitch:
Running module version sanity check.
 - Original module
   - No original module exists within this kernel
 - Installation
   - Installing to /lib/modules/5.3.0-53-generic/updates/dkms/

depmod...

DKMS: install completed.
Setting up software-properties-common (0.96.24.32.13) ...
Setting up libwinpr2-2:amd64 (2.1.1+dfsg1-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) ...
Setting up remmina (1.2.0-rcgit.29+dfsg-1ubuntu1.2) ...
Setting up openvpn (2.4.4-2ubuntu1.3) ...
 * Restarting virtual private network daemon. [ OK ]
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/openvpn.service → /lib/systemd/system/openvpn.service.
Setting up software-properties-gtk (0.96.24.32.13) ...
Setting up google-chrome-stable (83.0.4103.97-1) ...
Setting up remmina-plugin-vnc:amd64 (1.2.0-rcgit.29+dfsg-1ubuntu1.2) ...
Setting up network-manager-openvpn (1.8.2-1) ...
Setting up libfreerdp2-2:amd64 (2.1.1+dfsg1-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) ...
Setting up remmina-plugin-secret:amd64 (1.2.0-rcgit.29+dfsg-1ubuntu1.2) ...
Setting up libfreerdp-client2-2:amd64 (2.1.1+dfsg1-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) ...
Setting up remmina-plugin-rdp:amd64 (1.2.0-rcgit.29+dfsg-1ubuntu1.2) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.27-3ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for ca-certificates (20190110~18.04.1) ...
Updating certificates in /etc/ssl/certs...
0 added, 0 removed; done.
Running hooks in /etc/ca-certificates/update.d...

done.
done.
Processing triggers for dbus (1.12.2-1ubuntu1.1) ...
W: APT had planned for dpkg to do more than it reported back (36 vs 52).
   Affected packages: bbswitch-dkms:amd64 ca-certificates:amd64 libpam-systemd:amd64 libssl1.1:amd64 openvpn:amd64

After that the apt upgrade worked, and dpkg --audit didn't show anything.

Please let me know if we need to run something else to validate that the issue is fixed.

I really appreciate your help Manfred

Regards

Sergio

I do not see any severe problem any more.

There is a warning about virtualbox. To investigate that, what is the output of the commands

dpkg --print-architecture
dpkg --print-foreign-architectures
grep virtualbox /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list/*.list

Sorry, typo error in the last one of the commands

grep virtualbox /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*.list

Manfred,
This is the requested output

root@AR-IT12097:~# dpkg --print-architecture
amd64
root@AR-IT12097:~# dpkg --print-foreign-architectures
i386
root@AR-IT12097:~# grep virtualbox /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list/*.list
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian bionic contrib
grep: /etc/apt/sources.list/*.list: Not a directory

root@AR-IT12097:~# ls -l /etc/apt/sources.list
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 3078 may 26 13:23 /etc/apt/sources.list
root@AR-IT12097:~# grep virtualbox /etc/apt/sources.list
deb https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian bionic contrib

You have to edit the sources.list configuration file and change the line for virtualbox.

issue the command

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

and in the editor window that opens change the line

deb https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian bionic contrib

into

deb [arch=amd64] https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian bionic contrib

save the file and close the editor and finally issue the command

sudo apt update

What output do you receive?

Manfred,
This is the output:

root@AR-IT12097:~# grep "bionic contrib" /etc/apt/sources.list
deb [arch=amd64] https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian bionic contrib
root@AR-IT12097:~# sudo apt update
Hit:1 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease
Hit:2 https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian bionic InRelease
Hit:4 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:5 http://prerelease.keybase.io/deb stable InRelease
Get:6 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security InRelease [88,7 kB]
Get:7 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates InRelease [88,7 kB]
Hit:8 http://archive.canonical.com bionic InRelease
Hit:3 https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt kubernetes-xenial InRelease
Get:9 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports InRelease [74,6 kB]
Get:10 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 Packages [951 kB]
Get:11 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [43,7 kB]
Get:12 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security/universe amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [49,2 kB]
Get:13 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security/multiverse amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [2.464 B]
Get:14 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main i386 Packages [685 kB]
Get:15 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [306 kB]
Get:16 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/universe amd64 Packages [1.077 kB]
Get:17 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/universe i386 Packages [1.018 kB]
Get:18 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/universe amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [279 kB]
Get:19 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/multiverse amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [2.468 B]
Get:20 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports/universe amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [7.972 B]
Fetched 4.673 kB in 4s (1.212 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
All packages are up to date.

All the issues are fixed now, thank you so much for your support and help, I really appreciate it.

I will close this as "problem solved".

Regards.

Sergio