[SOLVED] Update 2.3.4 to 2.4 failed ("Unable to check for updates", …)

Grimson

Just do a fresh 2.4 install and recover/restore the config backup, saves a lot of time and you are sure the system is in a clean state.

PiBa

A reinstall would probably be best indeed.

If you want to keep trying to salvage the current running installation then some commands to try below. But be prepared to reinstall anyhow as it might break functionality further..


pkg-static update -f
pkg-static install -f pkg
pkg-static install -y pfSense pfSense-base pfSense-repo pfSense-kernel-pfSense pfSense-rc pfSense-repo pfSense-upgrade

pkg-static unlock pfSense-kernel-pfSense
pkg-static upgrade -f
pkg-static lock pfSense-kernel-pfSense

pfSense-upgrade -d

felix.wolfsteller

@PiBa:

A reinstall would probably be best indeed.

If you want to keep trying to salvage the current running installation then some commands to try below. But be prepared to reinstall anyhow as it might break functionality further..
pkg-static update -f
pkg-static install -f pkg
pkg-static install -y pfSense pfSense-base pfSense-repo pfSense-kernel-pfSense pfSense-rc pfSense-repo pfSense-upgrade

pkg-static unlock pfSense-kernel-pfSense
pkg-static upgrade -f
pkg-static lock pfSense-kernel-pfSense

pfSense-upgrade -d

Okay. Our users are allergic to downtimes, so this needs a bit of preparation. Will post the outcome and edit original question if solution is found within PiBas Wisdom (thanks a lot!).

felix.wolfsteller

Awesome PiBa, that worked (I executed all of the commands). Got quite some further warnings about libssl, libcrypto etc pp but the box rebooted and the logs look fine to me! The GU shows "version 2.4.0" and "latest version". Is there anything to do to clean thing up?

Once I gained confidence that the box behaves stable, I will update the original Post.

felix.wolfsteller

This is the relevant crash info (appears on every reboot). Creating a symlink to libssl.so.{8,7} leads to similar issues (I think then libcrypto.so is missing).
I found various other threads about this issue (https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=137941 / ACME, https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=137939) but did not dare to dive into it - for now the system seems okay. I cross fingers for a 2.4.1 update moving everything back into place.


			Crash report begins.  Anonymous machine information:

amd64
11.1-RELEASE-p1
FreeBSD 11.1-RELEASE-p1 #83 r313908+d77c47fe50c(RELENG_2_4_0): Tue Oct 10 06:48:42 CDT 2017     root@buildbot2.netgate.com:/builder/ce-240/tmp/obj/builder/ce-240/tmp/FreeBSD-src/sys/pfSense

Crash report details:

PHP Errors:
[23-Oct-2017 07:25:06 Europe/Berlin] PHP Warning:  PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/local/lib/php/20131226/ssh2.so' - Shared object "libssl.so.7" not found, required by "libssh2.so.1" in Unknown on line 0
[23-Oct-2017 07:25:06 Europe/Berlin] PHP Warning:  PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/local/lib/php/20131226/ssh2.so' - Shared object "libssl.so.7" not found, required by "libssh2.so.1" in Unknown on line 0
[23-Oct-2017 07:25:08 Europe/Berlin] PHP Warning:  PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/local/lib/php/20131226/ssh2.so' - Shared object "libssl.so.7" not found, required by "libssh2.so.1" in Unknown on line 0
[23-Oct-2017 07:25:34 Europe/Berlin] PHP Warning:  PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/local/lib/php/20131226/ssh2.so' - Shared object "libssl.so.7" not found, required by "libssh2.so.1" in Unknown on line 0
[23-Oct-2017 07:25:34 Europe/Berlin] PHP Warning:  PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/local/lib/php/20131226/ssh2.so' - Shared object "libssl.so.7" not found, required by "libssh2.so.1" in Unknown on line 0
[23-Oct-2017 07:25:34 Europe/Berlin] PHP Warning:  PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/local/lib/php/20131226/ssh2.so' - Shared object "libssl.so.7" not found, required by "libssh2.so.1" in Unknown on line 0
[23-Oct-2017 07:25:36 Europe/Berlin] PHP Warning:  PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/local/lib/php/20131226/ssh2.so' - Shared object "libssl.so.7" not found, required by "libssh2.so.1" in Unknown on line 0
[23-Oct-2017 07:25:36 Europe/Berlin] PHP Warning:  PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/local/lib/php/20131226/ssh2.so' - Shared object "libssl.so.7" not found, required by "libssh2.so.1" in Unknown on line 0
[23-Oct-2017 07:25:37 Europe/Berlin] PHP Warning:  PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/local/lib/php/20131226/ssh2.so' - Shared object "libssl.so.7" not found, required by "libssh2.so.1" in Unknown on line 0
[23-Oct-2017 07:25:37 Europe/Berlin] PHP Warning:  PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/local/lib/php/20131226/ssh2.so' - Shared object "libssl.so.7" not found, required by "libssh2.so.1" in Unknown on line 0
[23-Oct-2017 07:25:43 Europe/Berlin] PHP Warning:  PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/local/lib/php/20131226/ssh2.so' - Shared object "libssl.so.7" not found, required by "libssh2.so.1" in Unknown on line 0

No FreeBSD crash data found.

PiBa

Installing acme package from system\packagemanager and then removing it 'should' be a safe action to take..

echu2016

I got crazy to with 4 PFSense VMs…..
After a day, I realized the way to go...
The problem begins when following the suggestion "Major OS blahblah..." and installing pkg again.... Because, it installs FreeBSD 11 pkg package.
So, to make the upgrade work again, and not to deal with a manual upgrade what I did (worked) was:

cat /usr/local/sbin/pkg-static > /usr/sbin/pkg

This is, switching back (manually) to pkg-static version.
After issuing this command, upgrade should be done automatically as usual.
Try to issue a pkg -v before and after the command I wrote here, notice de difference.
Regards,

we converted a NanoBSD into a full 64b installation using the procedure from the wiki (boot slices, script).

Netgates Blog - pfSense version 2.4.0 is here

Important Information
_A few noteworthy items about running or upgrading to pfSense 2.4:

32-bit x86 and NanoBSD have been deprecated and are not supported on pfSense 2.4.
Hardware capable of running 64-bit images should be reinstalled with a 64-bit version.
32-bit x86 hardware can continue to run pfSense software version 2.3.x, which will receive
security updates for at least a year after pfSense 2.4.0-RELEASE.
NanoBSD installs on 64-bit hardware must be changed to run a full installation. This can be
accomplished by reinstalling or by following the manual upgrade procedure to convert NanoBSD to a full installation.
To use ZFS, a reinstall of the operating system is required. It is not possible to upgrade in-place from UFS to ZFS at this time.
Wireless interfaces must be created on the Wireless tab under Interfaces > Assignments before they are
available for assignment
Some hardware devices may not boot pfSense 2.4.0 installation images, for example, due to UEFI compatibility changes.
These are primarily BIOS issues and not issues with the installer images. Upgrading in place from pfSense 2.3.x typically
allows affected hardware to run version pfSense 2.4.x. In some cases, manually adjusting the installer images can allow
the hardware to boot._

A clean, fresh and full install was causing only ~30 minutes with a configuration play back!
I was choosing to install and use ZFS and so it was a "must be" with the fresh install but
without any problems, the upgrade from 2.4.0 to 2.4.1 was also not a nice trip here,
and I mean this really, so once more again I was installing fresh, and full and now I
am staying here on 2.4.1 so long as I can do it!

We ran the update, which failed due to timeouts during package download 2 or 3 times.

Deinstalling all packages and reinstalling all packages will be needing the same time to do a clean, fresh and full
install and play back the config.

After reboot, the GUI still shows version "2.3.4-RELEASE-p1 (amd64)".

Try out a fresh and full install against all other things, it not really popular but faster then all other methods
brings you fully ZFS support and you get not into trouble with IPSec VPN too likes much other users.

felix.wolfsteller

Thanks everybody. Updated the issue and marked as solved. I was able to have a (for now) stable box without a fresh install.
I think it remains very important that updates are possible (think of remote hardware) and the devs and users should know where updates are tricky - to solve issues and improve behaviour in the future.
Of course fresh installations might be easier and faster and thanks god export and import of the configuration works.

talon4x4

@felix.wolfsteller:

Steps to resolve

1. Cleaned up link-mess in /var/cache/pkg
$ ls -lha /var/cache/pkg 
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel    24B Oct 21 02:27 /var/cache/pkg -> ../../root/var/cache/pkg
2. Delete an ".empty" file in /usr/local/share/pfSense/keys/pkg/revoked/ (check below for other key-issues)

3. Installed packages via pkg-static and upgrade
pkg-static update -f
pkg-static install -f pkg
pkg-static install -y pfSense pfSense-base pfSense-repo pfSense-kernel-pfSense pfSense-rc pfSense-repo pfSense-upgrade

pkg-static unlock pfSense-kernel-pfSense
pkg-static upgrade -f
pkg-static lock pfSense-kernel-pfSense

pfSense-upgrade -d
4. Installed and Removed acme package via GUI to get rid of crash reports

Just wanted to thank everyone for sharing this fix. It worked perfectly and I'm now upgraded to v2.4.2

AllGamer

Thank you OP, this was a nice learning experience.

Well worse case scenario, I only had to re-install from media, then restore the config xml file. as I've done in previous failed major version upgrade.

but is good to learn how to re-cover from a bad upgrade.

Almost every major version upgrade like this 2.3.4 to 2.4, or 2.x to 2.3, and all previous major number changes, seems to have problem upgrading properly.