Attempting to update to 23.01 DEVEL corrupts my pfSense installation

gabacho4

@stephenw10 ok will standby. I’m embarrassed to even think about the number of times I’ve reinstalled pfsense on that router over the last week as I’ve tried various combinations of ways to maybe get things to work.

tedquade

@gabacho4 Ran into the same issue. Posting here for updates on the matter.

Ted Quade

gabacho4

@stephenw10 wanted to check in and see if you had any idea when a fix would be completed. At this point, it’s been at least 2 weeks since I was able to install or update a 23.01 development build. Doing so itches a personal interest of course, but it’s also enabled me to help find bugs - including this show stopping bug/regression - and test fixes. I’d love to get back at it but have no ability.

Is this the redmine entry?

stephenw10

No that's not the Redmine entry for this. Let me see if there's an update yet....

gabacho4

@stephenw10 that’d be great! Is there a redmine entry for this issue?

stephenw10

Only internally right now. Let me see...

cloudroot

Trying to upgrade from 22.09 -> 23.01.a.20221205.0600 failing:

ERROR: It was not possible to determine pkg remote version
__RC=1 __REBOOT_AFTER=10
ERROR: It was not possible to determine pkg remote version
__RC=1 __REBOOT_AFTER=10
>>> Updating repositories metadata... 
pkg-static: Unable to open '/usr/local/etc/pkg/repos//pfSense.conf':No such file or directory
No active remote repositories configured.
>>> Locking package pkg... done.
ERROR: It was not possible to determine pfSense-upgrade remote version
>>> Unlocking package pkg... done.
__RC=1 __REBOOT_AFTER=10
ERROR: It was not possible to determine pfSense-upgrade remote version
__RC=1 __REBOOT_AFTER=10
>>> Upgrading pfSense-upgrade... failed.

gabacho4

@cloudroot yeah that’s the same issue. Guess it still hasn’t been fixed.

stephenw10

Indeed, I'm still hitting it this morning. Bug link incoming....

https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/13724

Viper_Rus

Is there already a solution to the problem of restoring normal functioning after such an unsuccessful update?

gabacho4

@viper_rus reinstall 22.05 unfortunately. Maybe there is some sort of recovery install one can do that I haven’t taken time to learn. If not, hope you have a backup of your config. you may be able to recover the xml when you reinstall but I’d read the documentation for how to do that.

Viper_Rus

@gabacho4
Understood. Thanks for the answer. I hope the developers will write later how this can be fixed by completely saving the settings, because. the backup before the update attempt is quite old

gabacho4

@viper_rus probably best not to run snapshots (basically an alpha product) on a production device or without making sure you have a very current backup or 50.

gabacho4

@viper_rus I’d try the recover config option as explained here:

https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/backup/restore-during-install.html

tedquade

@viper_rus From the dashboard go to:

Diagnostics > Backup & Restore

Under "Backup Configuration" select "Download configuration as XML"

You now have a backup of the current configuration.

Ted Quade

stephenw10

You can force it to complete the upgrade by commenting lines 720 & 721 in /usr/local/libexec/pfSense-upgrade
And then manually replacing the symlink to the static repos location:

[22.05-RELEASE][root@plusdev-3.stevew.lan]/usr/local/libexec: rm /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/pfSense.conf 
[22.05-RELEASE][root@plusdev-3.stevew.lan]/usr/local/libexec: ln /usr/local/share/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo-devel.conf /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/pfSense.conf

But it's hard to recommend you do that.

Steve

cloudroot

22.09 -> 23.01.a.20221206.0600 fails as well.
Going to try StephenW's suggestion, for giggles and curiosity. (ZFS snapshots are soooo handy here)

Edit/Update:
Trying the workaround.. Same error message even after reboot

Another instance of pfSense-upgrade is running.  Try again later

Maybe because I'm trying from 22.09, and not 22.05 as in example?

gabacho4

@stephenw10 thanks for providing the dirty fix. I would argue that you already have a daring group of people wiling to test the snapshots and deal with issues that may pose. Don’t think anyone will complain about the fix you’ve proposed. Really appreciate your willingly to give us something so that we can move forward.

gabacho4

@cloudroot I’d forgotten about the snapshots!!!! That’s a great idea!

stephenw10

Yes rolling back using BE is always an option. It works well between 22.05 and 23.01.

It doesn't work between 22.05 and 22.01, should you find yourself trying that!

Steve