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

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Problems Installing or Upgrading pfSense Software
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    • F
      felix.wolfsteller
      last edited by

      Hey there

      we converted a NanoBSD into a full 64b installation using the procedure from the wiki (boot slices, script).
      We ran the update, which failed due to timeouts during package download 2 or 3 times.
      After reboot, the GUI still shows version "2.3.4-RELEASE-p1 (amd64)".

      Afterwards we

      • disabled the RAM Disk feature (shouldnt this be proposed in the nanobsd->full-wiki), as logging behaviour and other stuff seemed weird.

      • deleted a /var/db/pkg symlink mess as found in another thread

      • switched System->Update->Update Settings branch back and forth (no difference)

      • Tried to update via pfSense-upgrade and pkg

      So far the update attempts fail.
      I will post some command output which seems helpful to debug the situation (unfortunately I have no deeper BSD knowledge)

      
      $ pkg info
      pkg: Warning: Major OS version upgrade detected.  Running "pkg-static install -f pkg" recommended
      
      

      
      $ pkg-static install -f pkg
      pkg-static install -f pkg
      pkg-static: Warning: Major OS version upgrade detected.  Running "pkg-static install -f pkg" recommended
      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 1 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked):
      
      New packages to be INSTALLED:
      	pkg: 1.10.1_1 [pfSense]
      # .... we hit 'y' and 'Enter', nothing happens, process seem to hang
      
      

      
      $  pfSense-upgrade -d
      pkg-static: Warning: Major OS version upgrade detected.  Running "pkg-static install -f pkg" recommended
      pkg-static: No package(s) matching pfSense-kernel-*
      pkg-static: Warning: Major OS version upgrade detected.  Running "pkg-static install -f pkg" recommended
      ERROR: It was not possible to identify which pfSense kernel is installed
      
      

      
      $ ls -lha /var/db/pkg
      total 1559
      drwxr-xr-x   2 root  wheel   512B Oct 21 16:32 .
      drwxr-xr-x  13 root  wheel   1.5K Oct 21 15:46 ..
      -rw-r--r--   1 root  wheel   352K Oct 21 16:32 local.sqlite
      -rw-r--r--   1 root  wheel   246B Oct 10 14:19 pfSense-core.meta
      -rw-r--r--   1 root  wheel   246B Oct 21 12:57 pfSense.meta
      lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel    21B Oct 21 02:27 pkg -> ../../root/var/db/pkg
      -rw-r--r--   1 root  wheel   208K Oct 10 14:19 repo-pfSense-core.sqlite
      -rw-r--r--   1 root  wheel   984K Oct 21 12:57 repo-pfSense.sqlite
      
      

      Any idea how to debug this further?

      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

      Thanks everybody who helped.
      Btw update to 2.4.1 went smooth afterwards, too.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • D
        discostur
        last edited by

        Hi,

        having exact the same problem!

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • P
          PiBa
          last edited by

          Internet connectivity from pfSense box itself works fine?

          Check if you have any 0 byte packages in the /var/pkg/cache , and perhaps a file called 'empty' in the

          If you see any zero byte files in the directories below, such as a file named ".empty", remove them.
          /usr/local/share/pfSense/keys/pkg/trusted/
          /usr/local/share/pfSense/keys/pkg/revoked/
          https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=136950.msg749972#msg749972

          If above doesn't help, perhaps run "truss -f -o /root/pkg_truss.log pkg-static install -f pkg" and attach the file that gets created. It might tell what pkg is trying to do..

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • J
            JohnnyBeGood
            last edited by

            Hi all,

            Had same issue while trying to upgrade using web interface. Rebooted pfSense using web interface and tried again and it worked!
            Here's the successful upgrade log https://pastebin.com/b0j8JEzy

            I like to fill my tub up with water, then turn the shower on and act like I'm in a submarine that's been hit!

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • F
              felix.wolfsteller
              last edited by

              @PiBa:

              Internet connectivity from pfSense box itself works fine?

              Yes, it did.

              @PiBa:

              Check if you have any 0 byte packages in the /var/pkg/cache , and perhaps a file called 'empty' in the

              You mean /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
              
              

              Probably again such a symlink thing (target does not exist). I deleted (and mkdir'd) /var/cache/pkg; afterwards pkg-static install -f pkg succeeded.

              Now /var/cache/pkg looks like this:

              $ ls -lha /var/cache/pkg/
              total 2917
              drwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel  512B Oct 22 12:37 .
              drwxr-xr-x  3 root  wheel  512B Oct 22 12:37 ..
              -rw-r–r--  1 root  wheel  2.8M Oct  8 23:44 pkg-1.10.1_1-5a32648e84.txz
              lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel    27B Oct 22 12:37 pkg-1.10.1_1.txz -> pkg-1.10.1_1-5a32648e84.txz

              @PiBa:

              If you see any zero byte files in the directories below, such as a file named ".empty", remove them.
              /usr/local/share/pfSense/keys/pkg/trusted/
              /usr/local/share/pfSense/keys/pkg/revoked/
              https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=136950.msg749972#msg749972

              In "trusted" there are two 95B files, in "revoked" one .empty, which i deleted.

              @PiBa:

              If above doesn't help, perhaps run "truss -f -o /root/pkg_truss.log pkg-static install -f pkg" and attach the file that gets created. It might tell what pkg is trying to do..

              I did not do this because "pkg-static install -f pkg" succeeded after the cache-symlink-cleanup (see above)

              Thanks a lot PiBa! At least this allowed to go one step further. The GUI still shows "unable to check for updates", but at least the pkg thing seems to be clean now. I guess I could start the update via shell (pfSense-upgrade?) now - will try this when a slightly more relaxed time slot falls into my life. soon.

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              • F
                felix.wolfsteller
                last edited by

                I though I'd at least check if pfSense-upgrade would show me available package updates. Following happens:

                
                $ pfSense-upgrade 
                pkg-static: No package(s) matching pfSense-kernel-*
                >>> Updating repositories metadata... 
                Updating pfSense-core repository catalogue...
                pkg-static: Repository pfSense-core has a wrong packagesite, need to re-create database
                Fetching meta.txz: . done
                Fetching packagesite.txz: . done
                Processing entries: . done
                pfSense-core repository update completed. 7 packages processed.
                Updating pfSense repository catalogue...
                pkg-static: Repository pfSense has a wrong packagesite, need to re-create database
                Fetching meta.txz: . done
                Fetching packagesite.txz: .......... done
                Processing entries: .......... done
                pfSense repository update completed. 485 packages processed.
                All repositories are up to date.
                ERROR: Unable to compare version of pfSense-repo
                
                

                That seems not so dramatic, but following scares me quite a lot:

                
                $ pkg info
                Shared object "libssl.so.8" not found, required by "pkg"
                
                [code]
                $ find / -name "libssl.so*"
                /usr/lib/libssl.so.7
                /usr/lib/libssl.so
                [/code]
                
                [code]
                $ pkg update
                Shared object "libssl.so.8" not found, required by "pkg"
                [/code]
                
                I guess I should not reboot that box now ... ? :)
                Any help appreciated. The cheapest try would be to symlink `ln -s /usr/lib/libssl.so /usr/lib/libssl.so.8` - but this really gives me goosebumps.
                
                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • GrimsonG
                  Grimson Banned
                  last edited by

                  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.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • P
                    PiBa
                    last edited by

                    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
                    
                    
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                    • F
                      felix.wolfsteller
                      last edited by

                      @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!).

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • F
                        felix.wolfsteller
                        last edited by

                        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.

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                        • F
                          felix.wolfsteller
                          last edited by

                          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.
                          
                          
                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • P
                            PiBa
                            last edited by

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

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • E
                              echu2016
                              last edited by

                              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,

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • ?
                                Guest
                                last edited by

                                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.

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                                • F
                                  felix.wolfsteller
                                  last edited by

                                  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.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • T
                                    talon4x4
                                    last edited by

                                    @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

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                                    • A
                                      AllGamer
                                      last edited by

                                      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.

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