gif0 does not come up after reboot

stephenw10

Hmm. Even with that don't see it trying to restart the gif tunnel (even if it would fail) after the WAN connects and gets a new IPv6 address and I would expect it to trigger that.
It could be because it's link-local only and that is not seen as a valid address. Though it is valid for a transport link and that's common on WAN. Or potentially it comes up at boot and somethings are suppressed during boot to prevent flapping.

However what you're seeing is exactly this: https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/8273

Which should be fixed by this: https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/6507
But that is in 2.6.

Does manually running /etc/rc.newwanipv6 lan after boot bring the gif tunnel up? What is logged when you do that?

Steve

vex

@stephenw10 Hi Stephen,

this is logged when I manually start /etc/rc.newwanipv6 lan:

Oct 27 21:36:59 	php-fpm 	366 	/rc.start_packages: Restarting/Starting all packages.
Oct 27 21:36:58 	check_reload_status 	395 	Starting packages
Oct 27 21:36:58 	php 	80074 	rc.newwanipv6: pfSense package system has detected an IP change or dynamic WAN reconnection - 2001:a62:5d9:f100:905d:58ff:fe1f:81ff -> 2001:a62:5d9:f600:905d:58ff:fe1f:81ff - Restarting packages.
Oct 27 21:36:58 	php 	80074 	rc.newwanipv6: Creating rrd update script
Oct 27 21:36:58 	php 	80074 	rc.newwanipv6: Gateway, NONE AVAILABLE
Oct 27 21:36:58 	kernel 		gif0: link state changed to UP
Oct 27 21:36:58 	kernel 		gif0: link state changed to DOWN
Oct 27 21:36:58 	kernel 		gif0: link state changed to UP
Oct 27 21:36:58 	php 	80074 	rc.newwanipv6: Default gateway setting Interface 4IN6_TUNNELV4 Gateway as default.
Oct 27 21:36:58 	php 	80074 	rc.newwanipv6: Resyncing OpenVPN instances for interface LAN.
Oct 27 21:36:55 	dhcpleases 	6384 	Could not deliver signal HUP to process 80756: No such process.
Oct 27 21:36:54 	check_reload_status 	395 	Reloading filter
Oct 27 21:36:54 	php 	80074 	rc.newwanipv6: Gateway, NONE AVAILABLE
Oct 27 21:36:54 	php 	80074 	rc.newwanipv6: rc.newwanipv6: on (IP address: 2001:a62:5d9:f600:905d:58ff:fe1f:81ff) (interface: lan) (real interface: lan).
Oct 27 21:36:54 	php 	80074 	rc.newwanipv6: rc.newwanipv6: Info: starting on lan.

The gif0 tunnel is up after doing this.

stephenw10

Ok, interesting. So after running some tests here it appears that never gets called because it's not actually a WAN. I've asked internally because it's not clear to me what should happen there currently. As far as I can see it only restarts DNS and DHCPv6 on the tracking interface.

Steve

vex

@stephenw10 Just an hypothetical question: Would this bug be fixed if I paid for one of your support contracts and opened a case?

Regards
Alex

stephenw10

No. Support contracts are not paid development so it would make no difference here.

There are large number of moving parts currently and development time is at minimum. I didn't see much of a response previosuly. Let me retry....

Steve

Armin_

Hello

Interesting, after 3 years, I am experiencing the very same problem. I wonder, if I found something new. But sounds very familiar to me. Maybe, the problem is still not fixed?

I have a Netgate 6100 running pfSense+, Version:

25.07.1-RELEASE (amd64)
built on Wed Aug 20 14:17:00 CEST 2025
FreeBSD 15.0-CURRENT

I have an ISP (Deutsche Giganetz) providing an IPv6 connection and DS-Lite. Everything runs without any problem. But, after reboot the GIF does not come up.

I solved the problem by creating a script which I start from rc.d. Additionally I update the dynamic AFTR address.

Script is attached. Password is pfsense.

Regarding my configuration: I sent it to Netgate support and they said: No problem.

Shouldn't the problem be fixed by now?

Thanks

Armin

1757950987424-release1.0.zip

stephenw10

If you don't use the script I assume you can create the GIF tunnel successfully by just resaving the interface once the IPv6 is established?

Armin_

Yes, "save" and "apply changes" will restart the gif. Everything is reproducable.

anders.yarbrough

I seem to have the same issue.

slightly different config-
GIF on an IPSec interface, GIF set as L2 with 0.0.0.0/1 as the endpoint IPs. GIF doesn't pass traffic after boot, but as soon as I hit save for the GIF config with no changes made the GIF comes up and passes traffic.

If anyone's found a solution to get it to come up at boot, I'd be greatly appreciative!

stephenw10

Hmm, hoe does it appear after boot when it's not passing traffic? If he gif interface present?

What pfSense version are you testing in?

anders.yarbrough

@stephenw10 sorry to be more clear the gif0 interface isn't created at boot. Once the config save button is hit the interface is created and starts passing traffic.

v. 25.07.1-RELEASE

Would it be possible/advisable to run a sleep 45; the run interfaces_gif_edit.php after boot has completed? Or in my case after the IPSec interface is up, without the sleep?