Comment 81 for bug 349469

the way i fix it was doing this....

checked what was using it,

root@ubuntu:/home/supermorph# fuser -v /var/cache/debconf/config.dat
                     USER PID ACCESS COMMAND /var/cache/debconf/config.dat:
                     root 13654 F.... debconf-communi

i then issue a kill command to the pid 13654 (it might be different for you, do not copy n paste just incase something happens)
root@ubuntu:/home/supermorph# kill 13654

it done it,
root@ubuntu:/home/supermorph#

i then proceeded to continue configuring the apps by issuing command, i checked again first though, (to be sure)
root@ubuntu:/home/supermorph# fuser -v /var/cache/debconf/config.dat

root@ubuntu:/home/supermorph# (blank, so it has no locked process now)

then,
root@ubuntu:/home/supermorph# dpkg--configure -a

and bingo, works now.