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!
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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
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