Unable to check for updates (SOLVED)

[Matt2]

Hardware: Netgate SG-2440
Clean (from USB) Install of 22.05-RELEASE (amd64) 21 days ago. Everything was working and packages installed during config restore.

I am now getting an "Unable to check for updates" in the version system information window

Package Manager is saying "There are no packages currently installed." When I clearly have installed and working packages.

Executing "pkg-static info pfSense-repo" returns

pkg-static: invalid url: /pfSense_plus-v22_05_amd64-core
pkg-static: Cannot parse configuration file!

Using terminal to connect to pfSense and running option 13) Update from console (Serial and Device ID have been changed for privacy)

ERROR: It was not possible to identify which pfSense kernel is installed
Netgate SG-2440 - Serial: 12356789X- Netgate Device ID: 132456789XXXXX
*** Welcome to Netgate pfSense Plus 22.05-RELEASE (amd64) on pfSense ***

Any suggestions for next steps to recover other than reinstall from USB?

Thanks @sgc, solution that worked for me quoted below
@sgc said in Unable to check for updates:

This is what NetGate support sent to me about this problem.

Diagnostics --> Edit File --> and in the "Path to file to be Edited", please enter the following and click "Load":

/usr/local/share/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo.conf

You can then replace the file with the following contents and hit "Save". This will resolve your issue:

FreeBSD: { enabled: no }

pfSense-core: {
url: "pkg+https://firmware.netgate.com/pkg/pfSense_plus-v22_05_amd64-core",
mirror_type: "srv",
signature_type: "fingerprints",
fingerprints: "/usr/local/share/pfSense/keys/pkg",
enabled: yes
}

pfSense: {
url: "pkg+https://firmware.netgate.com/pkg/pfSense_plus-v22_05_amd64-pfSense_plus_v22_05",
mirror_type: "srv",
signature_type: "fingerprints",
fingerprints: "/usr/local/share/pfSense/keys/pkg",
enabled: yes
}

The problem is gone after changing this.

[mcury]

@matt2 I'm facing the same problem..
Started two hours ago when I tried to upgrade system patches package.

Maybe a reboot to fix? If I reboot right now people here will kill me..

[sgc]

I am having the same problem

[techpro2004]

same thing here on the east coast.

[sgc]

rebooted now none of my packages show as installed I get this error when trying to refresh

pkg-static: invalid url: /pfSense_plus-v22_05_amd64-core
pkg-static: Cannot parse configuration file!
pkg-static: invalid url: /pfSense_plus-v22_05_amd64-core
pkg-static: Cannot parse configuration file!
pkg-static: invalid url: /pfSense_plus-v22_05_amd64-core
pkg-static: Cannot parse configuration file!

[bushman666]

I have been having issues today as well.

It seems the package pfSense-repo is missing from the repository.
pkg-static install -fy pkg pfSense-repo
Updating pfSense-core repository catalogue...
pfSense-core repository is up to date.
Updating pfSense repository catalogue...
pfSense repository is up to date.
All repositories are up to date.
The following 2 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked):

Installed packages to be DOWNGRADED:
pfSense-repo: 22.09.a.20220802.0600 -> 22.05_5 [pfSense]
pkg: 1.18.3 -> 1.17.5_2 [pfSense]

Number of packages to be downgraded: 2

6 KiB to be downloaded.
pkg-static: https://pkg00-atx.netgate.com/pkg/pfSense_plus-v22_05_amd64-pfSense_plus_v22_05/All/pfSense-repo-22.05_5.pkg: Not Found

[techpro2004]

bug is still there

A little more info: It wont even let me manually install a package. in pfSense.conf it only lists part of the urls. Not sure what the rest are to correct it but the beginning of the urls are missing.

[techpro2004]

I have developed a temporary fix.

edit /usr/local//etc/pkg/repos/pfSense.conf

add the following to the beginning of both urls inside the quotes

pkg+https://firmware.netgate.com/pkg

[bingo600]

I have the same issue on my "Home Firewall in DK" (22.05)

Discovered by me , due to extremely long Web-Gui login time.
And some fumbling around revealed the "Unable to check for updates" in the GUI.

Saw this in the system log:

Sep 17 01:00:03 	pkg-static 	24861 	pfSense-repo upgraded: 22.05_2 -> 22.05_5
Sep 17 01:00:03 	pkg-static 	24861 	pfSense-upgrade upgraded: 1.0_26 -> 1.0_27 

And running "pkg-static -d update" .. Barfs at me:

22.05-RELEASE][admin@fw-01]/root: pkg-static -d update
DBG(1)[74683]> pkg initialized
pkg-static: invalid url: /pfSense_plus-v22_05_amd64-core
pkg-static: Cannot parse configuration file!
[22.05-RELEASE][admin@fw-01]/root:

If i go to Installed Packages it says none is installed, but if i goto my zabbix package , it shows up fine , and Zabbix isn't Barfing.

The Summerhouse (22.05) in SE , don't have this issue

Saw this in the system log:

Sep 17 08:11:49 	pkg-static 	55031 	pfSense-repo upgraded: 22.05_2 -> 22.05_9
Sep 17 08:11:49 	pkg-static 	55031 	pfSense-upgrade upgraded: 1.0_26 -> 1.0_27 

Would there be a difference in upgrades pulled at 01.00 vs 08.00

I'm in the summerhouse right now, and my ATV (AppleTv) exit's in DK.

Due to "Possible Wife imposed health issues, or Ear-Pain" if the ATV connection is lost. I will "Chiken out" on doing reboot or other "dangerous things to the DK firewall"

Edit - Just noticed the :
DK firewall did a 22.05_2 -> 22.05_5 upgrade (has issues)
SE firewall did a 22.05_2 -> 22.05_9 upgrade (has no issues)

So the update repos version switched in that timeframe.
Did Netgate fix a goof ??

Edit2:
Reading the nice hint from @techpro2004

I see that important info is missing in my DK
/usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/pfSense.conf

cat /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/pfSense.conf
FreeBSD: { enabled: no }

pfSense-core: {
  url: "/pfSense_plus-v22_05_amd64-core",
  mirror_type: "srv",
  signature_type: "fingerprints",
  fingerprints: "/usr/local/share/pfSense/keys/pkg",
  enabled: yes
}

pfSense: {
  url: "/pfSense_plus-v22_05_amd64-pfSense_plus_v22_05",
  mirror_type: "srv",
  signature_type: "fingerprints",
  fingerprints: "/usr/local/share/pfSense/keys/pkg",
  enabled: yes
}

SE (working) contains:
/usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/pfSense.conf

cat /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/pfSense.conf
FreeBSD: { enabled: no }

pfSense-core: {
  url: "pkg+https://firmware.netgate.com/pkg/pfSense_plus-v22_05_amd64-core",
  mirror_type: "srv",
  signature_type: "fingerprints",
  fingerprints: "/usr/local/share/pfSense/keys/pkg",
  enabled: yes
}

pfSense: {
  url: "pkg+https://firmware.netgate.com/pkg/pfSense_plus-v22_05_amd64-pfSense_plus_v22_05",
  mirror_type: "srv",
  signature_type: "fingerprints",
  fingerprints: "/usr/local/share/pfSense/keys/pkg",
  enabled: yes
}

NB:
The path should be : /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/pfSense.conf

Solved:
Replacing the two url: entries in the /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/pfSense.conf , on my DK firewall, with the contents from my SE fiewwall. And running a pkg-static -d update , seems to have fixed the issue.

I how have this in the GUI:

And my Installed Packages shows up again.
Indicating that System_Patches package should be manually updated.
The new System_Patches, adds the CRL fix as recommended.

@techpro2004
Thanx for the hint

/Bingo

[mvikman]

I had this exact same problem (noticed it yesterday) and can confirm the findings from techpro2004 and bingo6000

After fixing the URLs in "/usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/pfSense.conf" everything went back to normal.

[Bob.Dig]

Still would be nice to have an automatic fix for the lazy people. I was frightened seeing this until I came here.

[bingo600]

Here is a "One Liner" , that ought to fix it.

sed -i "" 's/url: "/url: "pkg+https:\/\/firmware.netgate.com\/pkg/g' /usr/local/share/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo.conf

Note:
/usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/pfSense.conf - Is symlinked to /usr/local/share/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo.conf

ls -l /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/pfSense.conf                                            lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  52 Sep  2 19:36 /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/pfSense.conf -> /usr/local/share/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo.conf

And sed won't work on a symlink

Therefore the "One-Liner" refers to the real file , not the symlinked one.

sed -i "" 's/url: "/url: "pkg+https:\/\/firmware.netgate.com\/pkg/g' /usr/local/share/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo.conf

Backup your existing : /usr/local/share/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo.conf , before using the above command.

Something like

cp /usr/local/share/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo.conf /usr/local/share/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo.conf.org

After fixing with the "One-Liner" maybe update the repos from CLI:

pkg-static -d update 

/Bingo

[Bob.Dig]

@jimp I hope netgate will fix it too.

[bingo600]

@bob-dig said in Unable to check for updates:

@jimp I hope netgate will fix it too.

That could be a "Chicken / Egg" issue, if the pfS uses those url's to fetch everything.

Even though it's weekend , i find it a bit strange that we haven't heard anything from Netgate, not even an ACK.

/Bingo

[Bob.Dig]

@bingo600 But why now, it has worked until yesterday, I am on 22.05 for months now. So what has changed when? Sry, for not getting the root of the problem.

[bingo600]

@bob-dig
See my initial post here

https://forum.netgate.com/post/1062012

And note that my DK FW (with the issue) updated to 22.05_5 at 01:00 CEST

Sep 17 01:00:03 	pkg-static 	24861 	pfSense-repo upgraded: 22.05_2 -> 22.05_5

My SE FW (with no issue) updated to 22.05_9 at 08:11 CEST

Sep 17 08:11:49 	pkg-static 	55031 	pfSense-repo upgraded: 22.05_2 -> 22.05_9

My guess is that the 22.05_05 update somehow FSCK'ed up the repos url's. And that Netgate got it fixed, sometime in the 01:00 to 08:11 timeframe.

So "Slow updaters" are not affected , "Fast updaters" are affected.

/Bingo

[Bob.Dig]

@bingo600 So we are talking not about an update of pfSense to a new version but to the repos stored in pfSense? And there is no Boot Environment for fixing it. Also there is nothing in Config History, maybe because I changed stuff today.

But lets say, I didn't changed something of interest in the last two days, I can use my own backup und it should be good. I will try that.

[bingo600]

@bob-dig said in Unable to check for updates:

@bingo600 So we are talking not about an update of pfSense to a new version but to the repos stored in pfSense?

Yes, a repos update ... And the naming might hint that 22.09 is close.

And there is no Boot Environment for fixing it.

I do not know pfSense well enough to know if there is another way of downloading a fix.

Also there is nothing in Config History, maybe because I changed stuff today.

I saw it (the update) in the System General Log

.
.

But lets say, I didn't changed something of interest in the last two days, I can use my own backup und it should be good. I will try that.

Your config should not have been affected , and restoring the config would not fix it.

A full reinstall would probably fix it, as it would pull the '09 repos update not the '05.
But that would (IMHO) be a lot of hassle, in order to avoid doing a ssh admin@xxxxxx , select 8 , and do the "One-Liner"

/Bingo

[mcury]

@bingo600 said in Unable to check for updates:

Yes, a repos update ... And the naming might hint that 22.09 is close.

I think it is close indeed..
https://redmine.pfsense.org/projects/pfsense-plus/issues?fixed_version_id=60&set_filter=1&status_id=%2A

[sgc]

This is what NetGate support sent to me about this problem.

Diagnostics --> Edit File --> and in the "Path to file to be Edited", please enter the following and click "Load":

/usr/local/share/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo.conf

You can then replace the file with the following contents and hit "Save". This will resolve your issue:

FreeBSD: { enabled: no }

pfSense-core: {
url: "pkg+https://firmware.netgate.com/pkg/pfSense_plus-v22_05_amd64-core",
mirror_type: "srv",
signature_type: "fingerprints",
fingerprints: "/usr/local/share/pfSense/keys/pkg",
enabled: yes
}

pfSense: {
url: "pkg+https://firmware.netgate.com/pkg/pfSense_plus-v22_05_amd64-pfSense_plus_v22_05",
mirror_type: "srv",
signature_type: "fingerprints",
fingerprints: "/usr/local/share/pfSense/keys/pkg",
enabled: yes
}

The problem is gone after changing this.