F13-Question: Cannot start a new yum immediately after an old "yum update" ends

[Robert G. (Doc) Savage]

On Sat, 2010-04-03 at 09:02 +0200, Joachim Backes wrote:
> What does the program "yumBackend.py" do? It seems it prevents a new yum 
> from running:
> 
> If have this question because after running "yum update" and the command 
> prompt reappears, a new yum sleeps for a while until it can run:
> 
> Another app is currently holding the yum lock; waiting for it to exit...
>    The other application is: PackageKit
>      Memory :  17 M RSS ( 30 MB VSZ)
>      Started: Sat Apr  3 08:50:57 2010 - 00:38 ago
>      State  : Sleeping, pid: 6106
> 
> Checking prevents a new yum from the start I saw a running
>    The other application is: PackageKit
>      Memory :  17 M RSS ( 30 MB VSZ)
>      Started: Sat Apr  3 08:50:57 2010 - 00:38 ago
>      State  : Sleeping, pid: 6106
> 
> ...
> 
> Sometimes it needs more than 1 min until yum runs again.

Joachim,

I see this behavior in F12 too. I believe it's normal for yum to spend
some housekeeping time in background before finally releasing its
lockfile. Depending on the number and size of packages to be downloaded
and updated, there could be a fair amount of cache cleanup and writing
to rpm databases.

--Doc Savage
  Fairview Heights, IL