Python 3 in pfsense

CouldntMakeUpOne

Hey, installed pfsense version 2.4.4. Is there a way to install python 3 in it so that I can run a script? I saw from pkg info that 2.7 is in it, do I have to unpack it? I would much prefer python 3 though.

BBcan177

https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/9360

CouldntMakeUpOne

Reading that, am I right to assume that python3 will only be implemented by 2020?
Is there any way I can go about running a python3 script now?

jimp

We will have pfSense 2.5.0 snapshots available soon with Python 3.6, which you can use for testing then. No ETA, but very soon. We have only a few minor blockers to solve internally before they are ready for public testing.

[2.5.0-DEVELOPMENT][root@jack]/root: pkg info -x python
python36-3.6.7
[2.5.0-DEVELOPMENT][root@jack]/root: python3.6 --version
Python 3.6.7

CouldntMakeUpOne

Oh, that's great.
Few questions though, sorry fairly new to the forum.
1)Will it be within the month?
2)Is there any way I can sign up to receive a notification when it is released?
3)Will it be available to download like all the versions via https://www.pfsense.org/download/ ?

jimp

The snapshots should be available soon, but we can't given an ETA. I'd expect them well before the end of the month, but no guarantees. The release will not be for some time yet after that, a few months, most likely.
I'm not sure where we will announce them, probably here on the forum and reddit at least. There might be a blog post, but probably not an announcement e-mail. It will probably be hard to miss when it happens.
Not from that URL, since it won't be a release for quite some time. Development snapshots are on https://snapshots.pfsense.org/

Kalle13

You can install python 3 from the from the official ports of FreeBSD 11. I did it several days ago.
For the installation you need the http path of the repo to install it. It is because pfsense has not all repos but only a tiny bit.

Kalle

CouldntMakeUpOne

@kalle13 Sorry, what do you mean the http path of the repo. Any guide I can follow. I'm fairly new to this.

Kalle13

Read this for installation:

https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/packages/installing-freebsd-packages.html

and use these repos:
http://pkg.freebsd.org/freebsd:11:x86:64/latest/All/

Grimson

@kalle13 said in Python 3 in pfsense:

and use these repos:
http://pkg.freebsd.org/freebsd:11:x86:64/latest/All/

Just don't come crying when the next pfSense update fails.

Kalle13

@grimson Really? I did not know that. Is this for sure when I am installing other repos?

Grimson

@kalle13 said in Python 3 in pfsense:

@grimson Really? I did not know that. Is this for sure when I am installing other repos?

It has happened in the past already.

jimp

He's right. Do not be surprised when that causes problems. Do not do that on a production system you care about.

Gertjan

On the other hand : if one is comfortable with installing from the standard FreeBSD repository, upgrading by re installing "from scratch" will be no issue at all.

Kalle13

@grimson Ok, thanks for your advice. I keep that in mind when the next upodate arrives. What can I do if the update fails?

KOM

@kalle13 Reinstall fresh, restore your xml config and then re-add the Python3 package. Plus, the update may not fail, but it may blow away your Python3 package and cause the things you need it for to break.

Kalle13

@kom Thanks for your advice!

CouldntMakeUpOne

Hi everyone, sorry for being this thread up again but what about python 2 in the meantime? I saw that there is already python 2 inside pfsense using "pkg info" but I am not able to run python commands. Do I need to do some sort of extraction?

jimp

@couldntmakeupone said in Python 3 in pfsense:

Hi everyone, sorry for being this thread up again but what about python 2 in the meantime? I saw that there is already python 2 inside pfsense using "pkg info" but I am not able to run python commands. Do I need to do some sort of extraction?

Python 2.7 is there and works fine, it just isn't in the python command, but python2.7. If you must have it available when typing python then make an alias or symlink.

CouldntMakeUpOne

@jimp said in Python 3 in pfsense:

symlink.

So, can I just run python 2.7 programs in pfsense by using ./python.py?

jimp

If you edit the shabang line to use the correct path to the binary, yes. If you have more questions, please start your own thread as it isn't related to this topic.

jwsi

To solve this I have created a public repo on GitHub with precompiled Python 3 binaries for specific releases of pfSense:

pfSense Python 3

If you follow the instructions, it's a very straightforward process and will allow you to choose whatever Python 3 version works for you :)

guardian

@jwsi Thanks very much for this. I was wondering how to approach this issue.

I was wondering if I could simplify the installation procedure... I just want python3.6 for amd64, can I just download from github to /root on my pfSense box?

curl -L -o Python3.6_pfSense2.4.4-RELEASE-p3_amd64.txz  https://github.com/ultrahorizon/pfSense-Python3/raw/master/2.4.4-RELEASE-p3/amd64/3.6.txz
pkg add Python3.6_pfSense2.4.4-RELEASE-p3_amd64.txz

I'm assuming that it does not matter that I renamed the file Python3.6_pfSense2.4.4-RELEASE-p3_amd64.txz as long as I use the same file name in the pkg add command.
(Note the -L option since github redirects the URL obtained by saving the link on the download button.)

I'm hoping this is OK so I don't need to clone the whole repo and install git.

jwsi

Hi @guardian,

So this is actually documented in the "Easy Installation" section of the README.

For Python 3.6 on amd64 you can simply execute:

cd /tmp
fetch https://github.com/ultrahorizon/pfSense-Python3/raw/master/2.4.4-RELEASE-p3/amd64/3.6.txz
pkg add 3.6.txz

Then the file will be removed from the /tmp folder in due course. I would probably advise downloading to the tmp folder or deleting the .txz file after install because there's no need to keep it around.

Let me know if that works for you

guardian

@jwsi Thanks... that does the fetch just fine... still working a few things out before I run it.

I assume this leaves python2.7 Installed and I run the new python as /usr/local/bin/python3.6 correct?

Does install include pip? If not, how do I install it (I need a couple of extra packages)

What command do I use to run pip for python3.6 instead of python2.7?

P.S.: For the benefit of anyone running this that doesn't know their way around the command line, they can just run rm 3.6.txz after the install is done to get rid of the file.

jwsi

Great to hear that it works @guardian.

If you reload the pfSense shell after installing (type exit then hit option 8 again) you will be able to use Python 3.6 by typing python3.6 in the command line. However, the full path you quoted is indeed correct too.

With regards to pip, this is already bundled as a module. To install simply execute:

python3.6 -m ensurepip

Then Python3's pip is available under the command pip3 (another shell reload will likely be required here...). It's also advised to upgrade pip to the latest version too. Therefore, after installation execute:

pip3 install --upgrade pip

guardian

@jwsi said in Python 3 in pfsense:

Great to hear that it works @guardian.

If you reload the pfSense shell after installing (type exit then hit option 8 again) you will be able to use Python 3.6 by typing python3.6 in the command line. However, the full path you quoted is indeed correct too.

With regards to pip, this is already bundled as a module. To install simply execute:

python3.6 -m ensurepip

Then Python3's pip is available under the command pip3 (another shell reload will likely be required here...). It's also advised to upgrade pip to the latest version too. Therefore, after installation execute:

pip3 install --upgrade pip

@jwsi thank you very much. I've just used default python2.7 on all my systems till now (don't do much dev-just the odd admin/helper script), so now I have to learn how to do things properly so that really helps. I will wait till I upgrade from p2 -> p3 before running, but I'll report back to confirm that everything works OK.

jwsi

@guardian great! Look forward to hearing how you get on