failed to fetch the repo data. Unable to perform update from 2.7.2 to 2.8.0 after restoring crashed 2.8.0 pfSense.

[stephenw10]

Those are not errors, it's expected to skip untrusted certs.

But you also shouldn't need to run that manually from 2.7.2. It was only an issue in 2.7.0.

What problem are you seeing?

[rcfa]

@stephenw10 Pretty much the same things described here, but trying to go from 2.8.0 to the 2.8.1 beta.

Upgrading from the console:

Enter an option: 13

pfSense-repoc-static: failed to fetch the repo data
failed to read the repo data.
failed to update the repository settings!!!
failed to update the repository settings!!!
pfSense - Netgate Device ID: xyzblahblah

From the webUI:

Tried the fixes described in this thread and that one "Another instance of pfSense-upgrade is running. Try again later"

No change. Now while I can do w/o the beta, it seems something’s messed up, and that something will come to bite me once 2.8.1 is out of beta, so just shrugging the shoulders is just kicking the can down the road...

[stephenw10]

OK try at the command line: pfSense-repoc -ND

What error is shown?

Send me your NDI in chat and I can check what it should be seeing.

[rcfa]

@stephenw10 Still haven’t figured that one out.
BUT looking at the /cf/conf/config.xml of the two installations, I noticed an interesting discrepancy:

<pkg_repo_conf_path>/usr/local/etc/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo-2_8_0.conf</pkg_repo_conf_path>

<pkg_repo_conf_path>2_8_1-preview</pkg_repo_conf_path>

Even though both systems refuse to see the 2.8.1 release, for former is stuck on 2.8.0 and the latter on 2.8.1.beta

Listing the (presumably) correct folder on the former yields:

root: ls /usr/local/etc/pfSense/pkg/repos/
pfSense-repo-2.7.2.abi                pfSense-repo-23_09_1_upgrade-cert.pem pfSense-repo-23_09_1_upgrade.name
pfSense-repo-2.7.2.altabi             pfSense-repo-23_09_1_upgrade-key.pem  pfSense-repo-2_8_0.abi
pfSense-repo-2.7.2.conf               pfSense-repo-23_09_1_upgrade.abi      pfSense-repo-2_8_0.altabi
pfSense-repo-2.7.2.default            pfSense-repo-23_09_1_upgrade.altabi   pfSense-repo-2_8_0.conf
pfSense-repo-2.7.2.descr              pfSense-repo-23_09_1_upgrade.conf     pfSense-repo-2_8_0.descr
pfSense-repo-2.7.2.name               pfSense-repo-23_09_1_upgrade.descr    pfSense-repo-2_8_0.name

while on the latter:

/root: ls /usr/local/etc/pfSense/pkg/repos/
pfSense-repo-0000.abi      pfSense-repo-0000.conf     pfSense-repo-0000.descr    pfSense-repo-0000.version
pfSense-repo-0000.altabi   pfSense-repo-0000.default  pfSense-repo-0000.name

Which looks rather different.

So I changed the line on the second one to a (somewhat) consistent

<pkg_repo_conf_path>/usr/local/etc/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo-0000.conf</pkg_repo_conf_path>

Maybe I can fix this, when I know what this line really should be and what correctly should be in /usr/local/etc/pfSense/pkg/repos/

Well, I messed around with these files and settings, and now they are all consistent in the what I guess is the new format.
Then going twice through the troubleshooting section of the manual here finally got both systems upgraded to 2.8.1.

So far so good, but unfortunately, the trouble still isn’t over.

Going to the System > Update section in the WebUI, I still get:

pfSense-repoc: failed to fetch the repo data

and trying to install some package, I still, after hitting the green "confirm" button, get:

<package> installation failed!
Another instance of pfSense-upgrade is running.  Try again later

So close, yet….

[stephenw10]

Hmm, so pfSense-repoc -ND still fails?
But pkg -d update succeeds?

[rcfa]

@stephenw10

Yep, that’s what it looks like…
…execution.log.txt attached, just changed IP and the system ID, since this is a public forum.

Same old error for the former:

pfSense-repoc: failed to fetch the repo data
failed to read the repo data.

and same success for the latter:

pfSense repository is up to date.
All repositories are up to date.

The only thing in the latter that I don’t quite understand are some lines like:

* The requested document is not new enough
* Simulate an HTTP 304 response
* Closing connection

do they mean the file on the server is not newer than the local file, and thus no need to fetch it, or is that some sort of error that results in the file not getting fetched, and the success message at the end is misleading?

Selecting option 13 from the CLI, results in these:

pfSense-repoc-static: failed to fetch the repo data
failed to read the repo data.
failed to update the repository settings!!!
failed to update the repository settings!!!

which are mostly familiar, except for the "failed to update the repository settings!!!" addition.

And of course, any attempt of installing/updating a package from the web UI, still gives me this error:

Another instance of pfSense-upgrade is running.  Try again later

These seem to go hand in hand...

[chrcoluk]

There does still seem to be repo issues, 16 minutes to download 159MB of packages.

Maybe stick a cloudflare cache up or something?

The actual update was just couple of minutes so the effective window was mostly waiting for downloads.

[stephenw10]

There were some IPv6 connectivity issues last week but that should be resolved now.

[rcfa]

@stephenw10 Unfortunately, this isn’t it.
This very specific scenario has persisted for quite some time, and I’m sure it will eventually turn out to be something tiny, the question is just: what could cause these symptoms?
Had this very issue before, and now after, force upgrading to 2.8.1 (following the upgrading troubleshooting guide in the documentation), and I have it on two systems configured in a similar fashion (they are the end points of the same tunnel)
While it doesn’t interfere with regular operations, it makes upgrades/updates quite some hassle. And of course it’s bugging me, that something is off.

[stephenw10]

Hmm, what sort of tunnel? Is it somehow trying to pass the upgrade traffic across it?