Another app is currently holding the yum lock; waiting for it to exit

Symptoms

When running upcp, you encounter an error similar to one of the following:

CONFIG_TEXT: [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/rpmup] Another app is currently holding the yum lock; waiting for it to exit

CONFIG_TEXT: [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/update-packages] The “/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/update-packages” command (process 2739120) ended prematurely because it received the “TERM” (15) signal. The system aborted the subprocess because it reached the timeout of 3,600 seconds.

Cause

This can occur when a package is being updated or the update transaction has stalled.

Resolution

You will need to identify the process to determine if the transaction is still running or if action should be taken to end the process. If the package installation is ongoing, it should be allowed to complete normally before attempting another cPanel update.

1. Log in to the server via SSH or WHM's Terminal as the root user

2. Run the following command to find the process holding the yum lock:

   # ps auxf | egrep 'yum|dnf' | grep -v grep

Warning: An actively running package installation should not be terminated or interrupted.

Additional Resources

How to Kill a Hung Process