Maybe the problem is that software-center spawns debconf-communicate with the user id instead of as root:
alkisg 7368 1.7 0.5 65404 23364 pts/1 Sl+ 07:48 0:00 /usr/bin/perl -w /usr/bin/debconf-communicate I tried making a debconf-communicate wrapper, to force running it as root instead, and everything worked fine again: $ cat /usr/bin/debconf-communicate #!/bin/sh exec sudo -E /usr/bin/debconf-communicate.real "$@" Of course to avoid sudo prompts, I've setup sudoers to not require a password for debconf-communicate.real for my user id. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Server Team, which is subscribed to dbconfig-common in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/962393 Title: Installation loops in db-config-common when ran from software-center To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/dbconfig-common/+bug/962393/+subscriptions -- Ubuntu-server-bugs mailing list Ubuntu-server-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-server-bugs