Processes locked on newly created droplet (terraform)

Question

Hey guys im using terraform to create some resources in my script i have setup a couple scripts to auto run once the droplets been created but it seems when i try to do any that are apt related i get the error saying its locked out

Error Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend. It is held by process 1348 (apt-get)

Terraform Script

resource "digitalocean_droplet" "Test-Server" {
  image = "docker-20-04"
  name = "Test-Server"
  region = "ams3"
  size = "s-1vcpu-2gb"
  ssh_keys = [
    data.digitalocean_ssh_key.terraform.id
  ]

  connection {
    host = self.ipv4_address
    user = "root"
    type = "ssh"
    private_key = file(var.pvt_key)
    timeout = "2m"
  }

  provisioner "remote-exec" {
    inline = [
      "sudo ufw allow 25565",
      "sudo apt-get install -y s3cmd s3fs curl",
      "do more...."
    ]
  }
}

I am using the docker image ISO on the droplet

any thoughts on how to fix this?

thanks!

Bobby Iliev · Answer

Hey there! 👋

I’ve seen this in the past, this issue happens because apt-get is already running on the Droplet shortly after it’s created, because of the automatic updates running in the background right after the server creation. As the apt-get command locks the process, your Terraform provisioner script can’t acquire the lock and fails.

To fix this you can add a small wait loop to ensure that apt-get has finished its tasks before your Terraform provisioner commands run, eg:

provisioner "remote-exec" {
  inline = [
    # Wait for any apt-related processes to finish
    "while sudo lsof /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend; do echo 'Waiting for apt to finish...'; sleep 5; done",

    # Update package lists and install the desired packages
    "sudo apt-get update -y",
    "sudo apt-get install -y s3cmd s3fs curl",
    "sudo ufw allow 25565",

    # Your additional commands
    "do more...."
  ]
}

The while loop checks if the lock file (/var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend) is in use by another process (like apt-get). If so, it waits for 5 seconds and checks again, ensuring that no conflicts occur.

Another option is to disable the automated updates, but I would not recommend this for security reasons.

Let me know if this resolves your issue! 😊

- Bobby

Question

Processes locked on newly created droplet (terraform)

Become a contributor for community

DigitalOcean Documentation

Resources for startups and SMBs

Get our newsletter

The developer cloud

Get started for free