apt upgrade gives "Operation not permitted"

Question

While trying to upgrade Ubuntu 21.10 by running apt upgrade as root, I get the following error:

dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/login_1%3a4.8.1-1ubuntu9_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 unable to create '/usr/share/man/zh_CN/man1/login.1.gz.dpkg-new' (while processing './usr/share/man/zh_CN/man1/login.1.gz'): Operation not permitted
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/login_1%3a4.8.1-1ubuntu9_amd64.deb

Further inspection suggests it may have to do with the extended attributes of /usr/share/man/zh_CN/man1.

When running lsattr -ld /usr/share/man/zh_CN/man1/ it outputs:

/usr/share/man/zh_CN/man1/   Synchronous_Updates, Immutable, Append_Only, Compression_Requested, Extents

Can I safely remove these attributes (I expect them to be there for a reason)? Or is there some other upgrade command I need to perform?

Answer 1

As I can see, you're using an antivirus! Disable that antivirus and proceed.

Note: I'm pretty sure this is due to McAfee, so, please run every suggested command step by step until the problem is fixed.

1. First, run the following commands to disable any instance of antivirus:

   sudo dpkg --purge mfedx 
   sudo dpkg --purge mcafeetp 
   sudo dpkg --purge mcafeeespaac 
   sudo dpkg --purge mcafeeespfileaccess 
   Sudo dpkg --purge mcafeeesp 
   sudo dpkg --purge mcafeert 
   sudo dpkg --purge mfecma 
   sudo dpkg --purge mfert
   

2. Remove any antivirus/security/blocker program you're using.

3. Run the following commands:

   sudo apt --fix-broken install
   sudo apt upgrade  
   

---

1. If the upgrade still showed errors, then also run:

   sudo apt clean 
   sudo apt autoremove 
   sudo dpkg -i ./var/cache/apt/archives*.deb
   sudo dpkg -i --force-overwrite /var/cache/apt/archives/login_1%3a4.8.1-1ubuntu9_amd64.deb
   

2. Now update and upgrade:

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt full-upgrade
   

---

Still not fixed?

1. If it's still showing errors, I'd recommend reinstalling the packages.

   sudo rm -r /var/cache/apt/archives/*.deb
   sudo apt update
   sudo apt upgrade
   

2. Check if you have all the dependencies installed.

   The package login depends on:

   • libaudit1 (>= 1:2.2.1)
     Dynamic library for security auditing

   • libc6 (>= 2.33)
     GNU C Library: Shared libraries

   • libcrypt1 (>= 1:4.1.0)
     libcrypt shared library

   • libpam-modules (>= 1.1.8-1)
     Pluggable Authentication Modules for PAM

   • libpam-runtime
     Runtime support for the PAM library

   • libpam0g (>= 0.99.7.1)
     Pluggable Authentication Modules library

---

If it isn't fixed till now then purge-reinstall the login package:

sudo dpkg -P login
sudo apt remove --purge login
sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt install login

Feel free to ask me anything in comments or chat.

Answer 2

apt commands require administrator privileges.

You need to preface the command with sudo.

You should also run sudo apt update before you do anything else in apt to make sure that you are working with the current list of software.

For example:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade