Can view package list, but nothing installs.
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(V 2.4.4-RELEASE-p2)
I can see the package list fine, but when I try and install any package, it freezes on "Please wait while the update system initialises."
I've just done a factory reset after hitting this issue during setup yesterday. It was also hanging on this step when trying to remove packages before the reset, but since the reset, package removal is working.
It let me install packages via the command line "pkg install ...", and I was able to install the FreeRadius3 PFSense package, and get it mostly working, but there were some lingering bugs that (the start/stop service button in the gui didn't work) that made me wonder if bypassing the gui was a bad idea.
Anyone know what could be broken, that only affects the gui installer, but not the package list or CLI installer? Even after a factory reset?
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Anything in the System log when you try to fetch something fro the repository via WebGUI?
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Nope. It shows there when I install from the CLI, but not when I try from WebGUI.
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Actually, sorry, it looked unrelated, but it is displaying "check_reload_status", "Syncing firewall" when I hit confirm on the install.
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Netgate have been doing a lot of forum maintenance over the past week, relatively speaking. Maybe something was up there?
Are you an IPv6 user? I've seen some funnies related to that.
check_reload_status is a command-dispatching daemon. That message is likely informational. I also have several instances of that in my logs.
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Not IP6, no. Nothing strange about the setup, all very basic.
I assumed the package manager was just calling
pkg, or similar, so I couldn't work out why it would fail from the GUI but not the CLI, especially after a factory reset. I can't work out what it's doing differently.
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You could do a packet capture on WAN while trying to fetch a package and see what happens, because right now it's not clear if the problem is related to the local prep, or is it related to the network?
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It doesn't look like there are any related packets going out, from what I can see.
I was assuming it's not a network issue, as it can get the package list, and works from the CLI, and the firewall rule is ANY/ANY.
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What hardware are you installing on?
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I'm struggling to work out how to tell! It's a 1U device, 4 physical ports. No serial or other identifying marks. What info specifically do you need?
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Oh nothing in particular. I was suspecting some sort of bizarre hardware error and wanted to know what you had.
Are you able to install to a virtual machine just to confirm that the issue is confined to that specific hardware?
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Err....I got this hardware with the software already installed (and just updated/factory reset it), so learning how to install on a VM is a pretty big step.
Interestingly, the package manager was working on this hardware before I did the software update (via the auto update). When I did the auto-update, a lot of stuff broke, and I was able to get it all working again via SSH and a lot of
pkgcommands (basically just force reinstalling all the packages), but the package manager WebGUI stopped working completely.That's when I did a second factory reset, and was expecting the package manager to be fixed! But it's only half fixed.
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I'm wondering if it might be easier to troubleshoot why Radius misbehaves when I install it via the CLI.
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Don't do a factory reset of a borked config. I suspect it's just resetting some things while others remain broken.
Take a config.xml backup via Diagnotics - Backup & Restore. Download pfSense and reinstall from scratch, then restore from your config backup.
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This was an issue with the earlier 2.5-DEVEL snapshot releases (maybe a couple of months back), but was quickly fixed. I don't recall it ever being an issue in 2.4.4, though. Here is a link to the Redmine bug report about the issue in 2.5: https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/9410.
If you have a pfSense/Netgate branded appliance, their support staff will be happy to help you out. You can contact them or open a ticket here: https://www.netgate.com/support/contact-support.html.
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Aha! It has that exact error message in that file! Legend!
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It's strange that I'm seeing that on 2.4.4_2. Should I just move to the Devel branch do you think?
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That message gets displayed every time you apply an update. Why it's hanging for you may be completely different from the 2.5 issue in Redmine. Considering how you manually tried to fix the issue, I would definitely reinstall 2.4.4 and restore your config.
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@bglamb said in Can view package list, but nothing installs.:
It's strange that I'm seeing that on 2.4.4_2. Should I just move to the Devel branch do you think?
No, it should not be happening to you on the 2.4.4-RELEASE branch. It sounds like your box is maybe part 2.4 and part 2.5 or something. If you manually installed a package, you might have inadvertently overwritten some dependencies. I would totally wipe the box and install from original source media.
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I've just spent the whole day getting it back up and running after the factory reset. Not sure I can afford to wipe everything and take another day. I'll see though. Thanks for your input both.
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Your error message indicates a somewhat borked installation of pfSense itself. Or at least what was installed has been corrupted with some different versions of key files. Again, if you have a Netgate appliance, find your box in this documentation list and then you can get to step-by-step instructions for downloading the correct source file and installing a 2.4.4 OS from scratch -- https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/solutions/. As @KOM suggested, I would not try to restore the
config.xmlwhile re-installing the software.
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KOM said "That message gets displayed every time you apply an update", you're saying it's indicative of a borked installation??
What makes you think there's different file versions?
Kom also said I should restore my backup. Dumping config that took me 8 hours to input is not a troubleshooting step I want to take lightly.
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@bglamb said in Can view package list, but nothing installs.:
KOM said "That message gets displayed every time you apply an update", you're saying it's indicative of a borked installation??
What makes you think there's different file versions?
He means the "please wait while the update system initializes" message. I'm saying the freezing with no pkg installation and the fact you said you found a file in /cf/conf that had the mismatched PHP versions message can mean a borked base software installation.
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Ok, thanks.
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And by the way, installing packages outside the GUI can break things since some packages may automatically bring down new (or even older) versions of key parts of the pfSense GUI plumbing packages. PHP comes to mind here. It's generally not a good idea to install using
pkg install xxx. Do it from the GUI. There are some built-in checks there to prevent overwritting critical core packges.
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@bmeeks Yeah. The whole thing was working, and I did the auto-update to the latest stable version and things broke.
I Googled it and just followed the commands from other people's forum posts, which were to force install a load of packages via SSH.
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Yes, I did suggest that he restore from his config.xml backup once he has the base install done. I figured that it was the base install that had the problem and his config was likely fine. He can verify it before he restores it.
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@bglamb said in Can view package list, but nothing installs.:
@bmeeks Yeah. The whole thing was working, and I did the auto-update to the latest stable version and things broke.
I Googled it and just followed the commands from other people's forum posts, which were to force install a load of packages via SSH.
If it's a new Netgate appliance, you have some free tech support. Take advantage of it. If it was purchased third-party, then the pfSense on it is not exactly legal as under the copyright/trademark laws only Netgate can sell something with "pfSense" pre-installed on it.
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@KOM I guess I can do a clean install, then if the config breaks it, just clean install again. Saves me a lot of work, if it works!
