Pakage mgr and system updater widget no longer updating

pftdm007

This afternoon I went to I went to the package manager to install a package, and saw that package pfblockerNG was outdated (yellow arrows), so I updated the package. It went well, but immediately after I returned to the package manager I quickly saw

Please wait while the list of packages is retrieved and formatted.

Then it immediately turned into a red ribbon saying

Unable to retrieve package information.

This happens for the "Installed Packages" as well as "Available Packages" tabs. Basically, I no longer can see what packages are installed on my system nor can I see the packages available in the repo.

Also I noticed on the main page, the updater widget saying

Obtaining update status

then after a few seconds, turning into

Unable to check for updates

Thinking pfblocker was blocking some connections to important pfsense servers, I tried disabling pfblockerNG completely to no avail. Snort is disabled and the blocked hosts list is empty.

Now I cannot update, install or uninstall packages…. How do I remedy to this?

Tried rebooting, doesnt help. running "pkg update -f" from SSH yields to:

[2.3.1-RELEASE][root@pfsense.localdomain]/root: pkg update -f
Updating pfSense-core repository catalogue...
Fetching meta.txz: 100%    944 B   0.9kB/s    00:01    
Fetching packagesite.txz: 100%    2 KiB   1.9kB/s    00:01    
Processing entries: 100%
pfSense-core repository update completed. 9 packages processed.
Updating pfSense repository catalogue...
Fetching meta.txz: 100%    944 B   0.9kB/s    00:01    
Fetching packagesite.txz: 100%  109 KiB 112.1kB/s    00:01    
Processing entries: 100%
pfSense repository update completed. 405 packages processed.

Also running pkg upgrade -f yierlds:

[2.3.1-RELEASE][root@pfsense.localdomain]/root: pkg upgrade -f
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.
Checking for upgrades (147 candidates):  44%

pfSense-kernel-pfSense-2.3.1_5 is locked and may not be modified
Checking for upgrades (147 candidates): 100%
Processing candidates (147 candidates): 100%
The following 146 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked):

New packages to be INSTALLED:
	dnsmasq: 2.76,1 [pfSense]

Installed packages to be UPGRADED:
	xinetd: 2.3.15_1 -> 2.3.15_2 [pfSense]
	unbound: 1.5.8 -> 1.5.9 [pfSense]
	strongswan: 5.4.0 -> 5.5.0 [pfSense]
	sqlite3: 3.11.1 -> 3.13.0 [pfSense]
	smartmontools: 6.4_2 -> 6.5_1 [pfSense]
	rrdtool: 1.5.5_1 -> 1.6.0_1 [pfSense]
	relayd: 5.5.20140810_1 -> 5.5.20140810_2 [pfSense]
	python27: 2.7.11_2 -> 2.7.12 [pfSense]
	php56-zlib: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-xmlwriter: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-xmlreader: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-xml: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-tokenizer: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-sysvshm: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-sysvsem: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-sysvmsg: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-sqlite3: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-sockets: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-simplexml: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-shmop: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-session: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-readline: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-posix: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-pdo_sqlite: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-pdo: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-pcntl: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-openssl: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-opcache: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23_1 [pfSense]
	php56-mcrypt: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-mbstring: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-ldap: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-json: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-hash: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-gettext: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-filter: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-dom: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-curl: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-ctype: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-bz2: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56-bcmath: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php56: 5.6.22 -> 5.6.23 [pfSense]
	php-xdebug: 2.2.5 -> 2.4.0 [pfSense]
	pfSense-rc: 2.3.1_5 -> 2.3.2 [pfSense-core]
	pfSense-default-config: 2.3.1_5 -> 2.3.2 [pfSense-core]
	pfSense-base: 2.3.1_5 -> 2.3.2 [pfSense-core]
	pfSense-Status_Monitoring: 1.4.2_1 -> 1.4.4_2 [pfSense]
	pfSense: 2.3.1_5 -> 2.3.2 [pfSense]
	perl5: 5.20.3_12 -> 5.20.3_13 [pfSense]
	pecl-rrd: 1.1.3_2 -> 1.1.3_3 [pfSense]
	pecl-radius: 1.2.7 -> 1.3.0 [pfSense]
	pcre: 8.38_1 -> 8.39 [pfSense]
	nginx: 1.8.1,2 -> 1.10.1,2 [pfSense]
	luajit: 2.0.4 -> 2.0.4_1 [pfSense]
	libssh2: 1.6.0_1,2 -> 1.7.0,2 [pfSense]
	libedit: 3.1.20150325_2 -> 3.1.20150325_2,1 [pfSense]
	isc-dhcp43-server: 4.3.3P1_1 -> 4.3.4 [pfSense]
	isc-dhcp43-relay: 4.3.3P1_1 -> 4.3.4_1 [pfSense]
	isc-dhcp43-client: 4.3.3P1_1 -> 4.3.4 [pfSense]
	ipmitool: 1.8.15_1 -> 1.8.17_1 [pfSense]
	gettext-runtime: 0.19.7 -> 0.19.8.1 [pfSense]
	filterlog: 0.1_2 -> 0.1_4 [pfSense]
	expat: 2.1.1_1 -> 2.1.1_2 [pfSense]
	curl: 7.48.0_1 -> 7.49.1 [pfSense]
	ca_root_nss: 3.22.2 -> 3.25 [pfSense]
	bind-tools: 9.10.3P4 -> 9.10.4P2 [pfSense]

Installed packages to be REINSTALLED:
	pkg-1.8.7 [pfSense]
	wrapalixresetbutton-0.0.7 [pfSense]
	wol-0.7.1_2 [pfSense]
	whois-5.1.5 [pfSense]
	vstr-1.0.15_1 [pfSense]
	voucher-0.1_2 [pfSense]
	uclcmd-0.1 [pfSense]
	sshlockout_pf-0.0.2 [pfSense]
	ssh_tunnel_shell-0.1 [pfSense]
	snort-2.9.8.3 [pfSense]
	scponly-4.8.20110526_2 [pfSense]
	rate-0.9_1 [pfSense]
	radvd-1.9.1 [pfSense]
	qstats-0.1_1 [pfSense]
	php56-pfSense-module-0.12 [pfSense]
	php-suhosin-0.9.38 [pfSense]
	pftop-0.7_6 [pfSense]
	pfSense-repo-2.3.2 [pfSense-core]
	pfSense-pkg-snort-3.2.9.1_14 [pfSense]
	pfSense-pkg-pfBlockerNG-2.1.1_2 [pfSense]
	pfSense-pkg-RRD_Summary-1.3.1_2 [pfSense]
	pfSense-pkg-Cron-0.3.6_2 [pfSense]
	pecl-zmq-1.1.3_1 [pfSense]
	pecl-ssh2-0.12 [pfSense]
	openvpn-2.3.11 [pfSense]
	openldap-client-2.4.44 [pfSense]
	oniguruma5-5.9.6_1 [pfSense]
	ntp-4.2.8p8 [pfSense]
	nettle-3.2 [pfSense]
	mysql56-client-5.6.30 [pfSense]
	mpd5-5.8 [pfSense]
	mpd4-4.4.1_1 [pfSense]
	miniupnpd-1.9.20160113,1 [pfSense]
	minicron-0.0.2 [pfSense]
	lzo2-2.09 [pfSense]
	links-2.9,1 [pfSense]
	lighttpd-1.4.39_1 [pfSense]
	libzmq4-4.1.4_1 [pfSense]
	libxml2-2.9.3 [pfSense]
	libucl-0.8.0 [pfSense]
	libsodium-1.0.8 [pfSense]
	libpdel-0.5.3_6 [pfSense]
	libmcrypt-2.5.8_3 [pfSense]
	libltdl-2.4.6 [pfSense]
	libidn-1.31 [pfSense]
	libiconv-1.14_9 [pfSense]
	libffi-3.2.1 [pfSense]
	libevent2-2.0.22_1 [pfSense]
	libdnet-1.12_1 [pfSense]
	libdaemon-0.14_1 [pfSense]
	ldns-1.6.17_5 [pfSense]
	indexinfo-0.2.4 [pfSense]
	igmpproxy-0.1_3,1 [pfSense]
	idnkit-1.0_5 [pfSense]
	grepcidr-2.0 [pfSense]
	gogoc-1.2_1 [pfSense]
	gmp-5.1.3_3 [pfSense]
	glib-2.46.2 [pfSense]
	filterdns-1.0_9 [pfSense]
	expiretable-0.6_1 [pfSense]
	dpinger-2.0 [pfSense]
	dmidecode-3.0 [pfSense]
	dhcpleases6-0.1_2 [pfSense]
	dhcpleases-0.3_1 [pfSense]
	dhcp6-20080615_7 [pfSense]
	daq-2.0.6 [pfSense]
	cpustats-0.1_1 [pfSense]
	cpdup-1.18 [pfSense]
	clog-1.0.1 [pfSense]
	choparp-20150613 [pfSense]
	check_reload_status-0.0.7 [pfSense]
	bwi-firmware-kmod-3.130.20 [pfSense]
	bsnmp-ucd-0.4.2 [pfSense]
	bsnmp-regex-0.6_1 [pfSense]
	broccoli-1.97,1 [pfSense]
	beep-1.0_1 [pfSense]
	barnyard2-1.13 [pfSense]
	ataidle-2.7.2 [pfSense]
	aggregate-1.6_1 [pfSense]
	GeoIP-1.6.9 [pfSense]

Number of packages to be installed: 1
Number of packages to be upgraded: 65
Number of packages to be reinstalled: 80

The process will require 2 MiB more space.
78 MiB to be downloaded.

What do I do now? Can I brick the system by upgrading from console?? Should I even try ?

pfsense4life

Although there's the small possibility that both our systems have a problem…since my pfSense Netgear box just started doing the same thing as you described I wouldn't take any drastic action yet since hopefully its a problem on the pfSense side.

pftdm007

Well looking at the console output of the pgk update & upgrade commands, I believe the pfsense servers (repos and all) are working fine, its the webUI thats unstable and crapped out. I may be wrong but I hope a pfsense dev sees this thread sooner than later…

pftdm007

Fixed. Upgraded from console

https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=116019.0

pfsense really needs a better way of notifying users for widespread problems like this, like a stickie system or something. I was not the only one apparently. Upgrading past 2.3.1 seems to cause issues that needs manual intervention.

Gastonshon

I have gained a lot of business ventures.