sudo deborphan | xargs sudo apt-get -y remove --purge ERROR

Question

administrator@xtrapcpro64:~$ sudo deborphan | xargs sudo apt-get -y remove --purge 
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable) 
E: Unable to acquire the dpkg frontend lock (/var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend), is another process using it?

That is the failure I am getting. Confession, This is Ubuntu on a thumb drive.

administrator@xtrapcpro64:~$ cat /etc/*release
DISTRIB_ID=Xtra-PC
DISTRIB_RELEASE=4.1
DISTRIB_CODENAME=xenial
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Xtra-PC 4.1"
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="16.04.5 LTS (Xenial Xerus)"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 16.04.5 LTS"
VERSION_ID="16.04"
HOME_URL="http://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="http://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="http://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
VERSION_CODENAME=xenial
UBUNTU_CODENAME=xenial

YEARS ago, I had great luck with this tutorial:

HOWTO: Cleaning up all those unnecessary junk files... - Ubuntu Forums

I am fine until I get to the instruction to:

sudo deborphan | xargs sudo apt-get -y remove --purge

Doesn't look like there is a preview option, so I hope to H this posts effectively.

Help is appreciated in advance.

Edit: sudo deborphan returns

administrator@xtrapcpro64:~$ sudo deborphan [sudo] password for administrator: libsidplayfp4 libmusicbrainz3-6v5 libmms0 libmeanwhile1 libical1a libwv-1.2-4 libgeoclue0 libchamplain-gtk-0.12-0 libtidy-0.99-0 libexo-1-0 libgmtk1 libloudmouth1-0 libguess1 libburn4 libgtkspell0 libcue1 libfarstream-0.2-5 libqmi-glib1 libbinio1v5 libmessaging-menu0 libpisock9 libgoffice-0.10-10 libonig2 libisofs6 libzephyr4 libcompfaceg1 libevent-2.0-5 libtelepathy-glib0 lxshortcut gnome-time-admin libfluidsynth1 libwhoopsie0 libots0 administrator@xtrapcpro64:~$

I took the "tour" years ago .. 2006 probably. I evidently should again and will.

no -r because I was following instructions as instructed. I am not a proficient Linux user ... and probably never will be. Thank you for your reply.

Answer 1

try this:

sudo deborphan --guess-common | xargs sudo apt purge -y