Given up on 2.2
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I would second KOM's comment - since packages are now in full control of the dev team - they are built, hosted and toolkit access controlled by them - it becomes pfSense's team responsibility that packages work without an error with basic config on clean install. And looking through the forum, it does not seems to be the case :(
I like pfSense and I greatly respect development team's work, but really hope that they can look into packages issue…
If it would be me, installing and owning some 3rd party package through pkg_add - I wold not complain, because I always can go and do some searching, test different versions, etc... But with pfSense packages it is almost impossible... Once can try and troubleshoot and post some workaround, but there is no guarantee that anyone will be looking into implementing it in the next release... I filed bugs for packages before, no one cares fixing them. -
I hear you, Kejainshi, but Lightsquid and Sarg have been broken since I started using pfSense more than a year ago – long before 2.2. I'm not going to rant about it (again), but it doesn't look good on the project to have common packages broken on install for a long time.
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@KOM:
I hear you, Kejainshi, but Lightsquid and Sarg have been broken since I started using pfSense more than a year ago – long before 2.2.
Yes. So, there's actually no 2.2 regression then, no? :D :D :D
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lightsquid worked just fine for me before 2.2
I just uninstalled it and squid dansguardian and the rest because I saw no continuing need to filter my kids web when he turned 13.Thank god too… Those packages do not make the internet more reliable.
I've had to roll back once or twice in the past, wait 3 months for an update and move forward also.
I half expect it with any new release of any OS or firmware.
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If it's important to you:
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Document what you see as best you can.
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Open a bug report.
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Roll back to 2.1.5.
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Watch redmine to see the progress of your issue.
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Proceed back to 2.2.X when you think it's safe to do so.
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The best I would hope for, is that before packages can be added that they have to be validated. So when new release comes out there are no packages until the package creators/maintainers show that it works for that release.
So when release.x comes out all packages are removed and not available to install until the makers of said package get it validated for release.x - that would for sure be a win win for everyone involved if you ask me IMHO..
My point is the developers are not coding for all the packages, they are coding for the core.. To expect them do make sure their code doesn't break any package is also absurd.
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Where were all these package maintainers during the beta and RC cycles?
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Where were all these package maintainers during the beta and RC cycles?
- Some stuff has not been touched for ages.
- Some maintainers are gone.
- And frankly, "packages are now in full control of the dev team" is exactly what did NOT help.
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Where were all these package maintainers during the beta and RC cycles?
Exactly. I also realize that some of the packages are maintained by volunteers, but that's not optimal from a corporate standpoint to be reliant on Internet Joe to keep your packages validated and up to date.
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Nothing ever changes :-) For over 20 years it´s been the same. My own developers call me a whiner when I complain about things not working or them not testing stuff properly…
My hope is that something may be learned and a new test and release procedure may help avoid this in the future. The idea to hold back unverified packages until tested is a good one. It would have saved me a lot of time and I wouldn´t even considered upgrading if I had seen some of the packages didn´t work with 2.2.
I actually did check what packages were available after the 2.2 fresh install and noticed they were all marked with 2.2 so I (naively) figured they were verified to some extent!
I also become a bit concerned by the comments that the packages are left alone and no one actually cares about them or touches them. I love PfSense but a leftover package is a huge security risk and may compromise the whole system! This may lead to demands for more secure options in a production environment. I´m also willing to bet a majority of the userbase have some packages installed and not only uses the core system.
Finally, please don´t regard this as whining, instead find a new way to make it better and keep up the good work that made me go with PfSense from the beginning!
Regards
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Personally, I don't want 2.2 held back because of a problem with some stupid package with a long-absent maintainer that someone probably doesn't really need. They can stay on 2.1.5 until their package is supported or go to another solution.
I do like the idea of packages not showing up in available packages until they have a decent shot at working.
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Another option is to have more than one repository for packages, like stable, testing, unstable etc.
This way people who want to risk and test can still do that. And people, who need prod-level stability will be able to judge better before upgrading. -
I couldn't agree more with you guys (FOM and 154218K2)
It was frustrating to upgrade my fw from 2.1.5 to 2.2 because of all the unverified packages that reside in the repo.
I know it's a huge task to test and verify all the packages, but imo thats no excuse.Snort, Squid, squidlight, havp are the most widely used packages around and they should work no matter what upgrade it is.
Thank god for the community to help me figure out some stuff and get it back up and running again !
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I like the idea of packages having tags next to them basically stating what versions they are compatible with. If you want to provide a over ride button then that would be nice with a warning that certain packages have know compatibility issues, similar to what Windows does.
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Where were all these package maintainers during the beta and RC cycles?
In my case, working. Porting packages to a great project does something near to zero return.
Another option is to have more than one repository for packages, like stable, testing, unstable etc.
I've tried it once but before starting coding I've decided to ask core team about it and the answer was no.
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There is one now >>>> marcelloc
GET HIM!!!!
(kidding by the way - Great work you have done… For free???)
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For free???
Most time yes. Some times somebody remembers that I need to eat and make me a donation or create a bounty.
Something that you may not have noticed is that on pfSense move from 2.0 to 2.1, packages changed from standart freebsd pkg to pcbsd pbi. So testing and compiling packages changed from as simple as using ports to a complete change on binary location and config files and the pseudo jail.
Hard work to change a lot of ported packages to keep it working.Then 2.2 jumped to freebsd 10(finally! :)) but pbi was dead on freebsd 8 or 9 (I guess). This way to keep packages on pbi, core team had to adapt it once again. Binary and config files moved(again) and started a lot of "missing libs" alerts for files that were not missing at all and all 2.1 php package changes did not worked for 2.2. Let's start checking and compiling everything again.
Once binary startup was fine without missing libs, conf files were messed up again. Some times looking on /usr/local and other times under /usr/pbi. And what about helpers and internal binaries called by squid and postfix for example. Main binary was ok but nobody to test in deep.
This is happening since november/december 2014. I have spent much more then my free time working together with Renato and available forum members that had time to test 2.2 beta and RC(cino for example).
2.3 will finally get back to freebsd packages(now on pkgng). compile and install will be much easier on developer's labs but somebody has a clue on what will happen to package gui php,xml and inc?
Will need to be fixed up again. :)
I love this project and did my best to get it even better.
Util pbis are fine on 2.2, there's nothing(or not much) maintainers can do.
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Thats sorta kinda what I thought.
Well - What can I say. I like the project. -
Another option is to have more than one repository for packages, like stable, testing, unstable etc.
I've tried it once but before starting coding I've decided to ask core team about it and the answer was no.
Well, I personally don't accept that "security issues" excuse - because breaking repositories like that will actually help avoid said issues with broken/non-maintained packages in current repository.
Something tells me the reason for refusal is totally different. -
Not this thread again… every time we put out a release there's some "sky is falling" thread.
just in the 1st few days of 2.2 being released I counted over 60 forum posts about problems with 2.15 -> 2.2.
There were tens of thousands of systems upgraded via auto-update alone in the timeframe of those 60 posts. I'll make some specific stats available in the next few days.
This is the biggest jump in base OS we've ever made, which left people more exposed to hardware-specific issues or other changes in behavior.
The upgrade issues reported essentially all fall into 5 categories.
- things that would have happened just rebooting, not related to upgrading (system no longer completes POST, hard drive is dead, etc.)
- hardware-specific FreeBSD issues. Some seem to be things that people had to muck with to make FreeBSD 8.x run (probably working around some kind of problem in 8.x), which leaves 10.x unworkable. Resetting the BIOS to factory defaults fixed that. A couple cases with the Intel "fake RAID" cards that expose both the array and the underlying disks to the OS, and GEOM in 10.x was breaking boot upon seeing the underlying disks. Had to disable GEOM there. These things mostly have workarounds. Some unfortunately not as easily, like the apparent issues with HP DL360 G3 servers.
These things happen. This is one of the reasons we stress the importance of buying hardware appliances from us for any mission-critical purposes, as you know it's going to be fully validated on the hardware you have, so you're eliminating this upgrade risk.
Still, it's a small fraction of a percent that ever see such issues. - people who don't pay attention to things clearly stated in the release and upgrade notes.
- actual regressions, of which there are some, but most are covered in #3. This is actually a really small portion of anything to do with the base system.
- misconfigurations that shouldn't have worked before but happened to, and now don't. Mobile IPsec now requiring 0.0.0.0/0 as the local network on the phase 2 is the only 2.2 example I can think of there. Though every circumstance I'm aware of here is covered in the upgrade notes.
Packages, as noted in the release notes, could be full of landmines. There are very few active package maintainers, and lots of work to keep them all functional. marcelloc has put a good deal of much-appreciated work into things as a volunteer, as has Renato (as part of being employed by us), but there aren't enough package maintainers around to keep everything up to date.
Multiple dozen people have contributed packages over the years, but almost none of those are actively maintaining the packages. That's the issue with accepting community packages, everyone then expects us to be obligated to maintain anything that anyone ever submitted. If everyone who contributed packages at some point would maintain them, things would be great. That's far from the case though.
Things will improve significantly with the switch to pkgng from a maintenance perspective, for some of the reasons marcelloc noted. And we'll differentiate or classify packages in the future in some manner. Things we support and maintain ourselves, and things from a community contributor who may disappear tomorrow and whose packages may be removed if left unmaintained. People will still moan and complain if they're removed or have issues, but hopefully that at least sets people's expectations more appropriately.
The most important thing is - read the upgrade notes before you upgrade. If you're affected by something noted there (and those are continually updated post-release as things change), then make sure you take the appropriate precautions or mitigations, or in rare instances where you can't upgrade at the moment, hold off until the next release.
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/UpgradeGuide#pfSense_2.2_Upgrade_Notes
