check_upgrade: "Updating repositories metadata" returned error code 1

[SuperTypeGuy]

fwiw, after checking a few other systems I am seeing this exact notice on several other 2.8.0 systems. Now I am geussing the above system had the notice before upgrading to 2.8.1.

[ag0s]

This post is deleted!

[f1d094]

@SuperTypeGuy said in check_upgrade: "Updating repositories metadata" returned error code 1:

Also, no repository errors when checking from the cli or the System Update gui. Other than the notice message, everything seems fine.

Just chiming in. I came here to report this "check_upgrade: "Updating repositories metadata" returned error code 1 @ 2025-10-01 17:41:46" which is reported on each boot This was for a new host, installed fresh via USB. The config was then updated from backup of the (failed) host it was replacing.

Everything works...but we get this message on every reboot.

[f1d094]

Point of interest: This may be related to my other issue/unbound. It seems that unbound is taking an inordinately long time to load now on v2.8.1 (1-2 minutes). @Gertjan pointed out that I am running an archaic config with pfBlocker in unbound mode and should update that to "python mode" for speed...

Is there something new with 2.8.2 / unbound / pfBlocker that causes DNS to take too long and therefore isn't available to "pkg update" when it is first run?

[stephenw10]

Hmm, it would certainly hit an error if it's unable to resolve.

Do you have the DNS behaviour set to local DNS only in System > General Setup?

[f1d094]

@stephenw10 The slow-boot issue I fixed. Not interesting. I fat-fingered an entry in DNS TLS resolver names while working on other issue...

The "check_upgrade" errors on boot persist. However, I've tested every aspect of package management and can identify zero functional issues. Since the firewalls get rebooted on average of once a year, I'll just click "Mark as Read" and call it good.

[stephenw10]

Just for reference do you have DNS set to local only or can it fall back to external?

[PnoT]

I'm experiencing this as well since installing a fresh copy of 2.8.1 and restoring a configuration backup from 2.7.2.

[stephenw10]

Only at boot?

[PnoT]

@stephenw10 The error is showing up continuously throughout the day.

[alnico]

I am facing this error too after I reboot. Noticed it in the last two days.

My version is 25.07.1

[stephenw10]

Ok if you see it only at boot then it's a harmless ordering error we are looking into.

If you see it continuously then you probably have a connectivity issue. Try running: pfSense-repoc -ND and pkg -d update. See what errors are shown.

[PnoT]

@stephenw10 said in check_upgrade: "Updating repositories metadata" returned error code 1:

Ok if you see it only at boot then it's a harmless ordering error we are looking into.

If you see it continuously then you probably have a connectivity issue. Try running: pfSense-repoc -ND and pkg -d update. See what errors are shown.

No errors on -repoc that I can see and a few bits towards the end of the second command:

• The requested document is not new enough
• Simulate an HTTP 304 response
• Closing connection

pfSense-core repository is up to date.
Updating pfSense repository catalogue...
DBG(1)[65728]> PkgRepo: verifying update for pfSense
Waiting for another process to update repository pfSense
All repositories are up to date.

[stephenw10]

Those are normal output from pkg update.

Try: pfSense-upgrade -dc

That's what's actually run that generates that error.

If that completes without error then it must be something intermittent. In which case I would check the system logs for errors when that alert is triggered.

[PnoT]

@stephenw10

[2.8.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.lab.local]/root: pfSense-upgrade -dc
>>> Updating repositories metadata...
Updating pfSense-core repository catalogue...
pkg-static: An error occured while fetching package
pkg-static: An error occured while fetching package
repository pfSense-core has no meta file, using default settings
pkg-static: An error occured while fetching package
pkg-static: An error occured while fetching package
pkg-static: An error occured while fetching package
pkg-static: An error occured while fetching package
Unable to update repository pfSense-core
Updating pfSense repository catalogue...
pkg-static: An error occured while fetching package
pkg-static: An error occured while fetching package
repository pfSense has no meta file, using default settings
pkg-static: An error occured while fetching package
pkg-static: An error occured while fetching package
pkg-static: An error occured while fetching package
pkg-static: An error occured while fetching package
Unable to update repository pfSense
Error updating repositories!
Your system is up to date

[stephenw10]

OK what's the full output you see from: pkg-static -d update?

[PnoT]

@stephenw10

[2.8.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.lab.local]/root: pkg-static -d update
DBG(1)[27296]> pkg initialized
Updating pfSense-core repository catalogue...
DBG(1)[27296]> PkgRepo: verifying update for pfSense-core
DBG(1)[27296]> Pkgrepo, begin update of '/var/db/pkg/repos/pfSense-core/db'
DBG(1)[27296]> Request to fetch pkg+https://pkg.pfsense.org/pfSense_v2_8_1_amd64-core/meta.conf
DBG(1)[27296]> curl_open
DBG(1)[27296]> Fetch: fetcher used: pkg+https
DBG(1)[27296]> curl> fetching https://pkg.pfsense.org/pfSense_v2_8_1_amd64-core/meta.conf

DBG(1)[27296]> CURL> attempting to fetch from , left retry 3

* Couldn't find host pkg00-atx.netgate.com in the .netrc file; using defaults
* Host pkg00-atx.netgate.com:443 was resolved.
* IPv6: 2610:160:11:18::207
* IPv4: 208.123.73.207
*   Trying 208.123.73.207:443...
*   Trying [2610:160:11:18::207]:443...
* Immediate connect fail for 2610:160:11:18::207: No route to host
* ipv4 connect timeout after 19808ms, move on!
* Failed to connect to pkg00-atx.netgate.com port 443 after 30009 ms: Timeout was reached
* Closing connection
DBG(1)[27296]> CURL> attempting to fetch from , left retry 2

* Couldn't find host pkg01-atx.netgate.com in the .netrc file; using defaults
* Host pkg01-atx.netgate.com:443 was resolved.
* IPv6: 2610:160:11:18::209
* IPv4: 208.123.73.209
*   Trying 208.123.73.209:443...
* Connected to pkg01-atx.netgate.com (208.123.73.209) port 443
* ALPN: curl offers http/1.1
*  CAfile: none
*  CApath: /etc/ssl/certs/
* SSL connection using TLSv1.2 / ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 / X25519 / RSASSA-PSS
* ALPN: server accepted http/1.1
* Server certificate:
*  subject: CN=*.netgate.com
*  start date: Apr 10 00:00:00 2025 GMT
*  expire date: May 11 23:59:59 2026 GMT
*  subjectAltName: host "pkg01-atx.netgate.com" matched cert's "*.netgate.com"
*  issuer: C=GB; ST=Greater Manchester; L=Salford; O=Sectigo Limited; CN=Sectigo RSA Domain Validation Secure Server CA
*  SSL certificate verify ok.
*   Certificate level 0: Public key type RSA (2048/112 Bits/secBits), signed using sha256WithRSAEncryption
*   Certificate level 1: Public key type RSA (2048/112 Bits/secBits), signed using sha384WithRSAEncryption
*   Certificate level 2: Public key type RSA (4096/152 Bits/secBits), signed using sha384WithRSAEncryption
* using HTTP/1.x
> GET /pfSense_v2_8_1_amd64-core/meta.conf HTTP/1.1
Host: pkg01-atx.netgate.com
User-Agent: pkg/1.21.3
Accept: */*
If-Modified-Since: Thu, 28 Aug 2025 16:50:33 GMT

* Request completely sent off
< HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Fetching meta.conf:   0%< Server: nginx
< Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2025 16:06:28 GMT
< Content-Type: application/octet-stream
< Content-Length: 179
< Last-Modified: Thu, 28 Aug 2025 16:50:33 GMT
< Connection: keep-alive
< ETag: "68b088d9-b3"
< Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; preload
< X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
< X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block
< X-Robots-Tag: all
< X-Download-Options: noopen
< X-Permitted-Cross-Domain-Policies: none
< Accept-Ranges: bytes
<
* The requested document is not new enough
* Simulate an HTTP 304 response
* Closing connection

DBG(1)[27296]> Request to fetch pkg+https://pkg.pfsense.org/pfSense_v2_8_1_amd64-core/data.pkg
DBG(1)[27296]> curl_open
DBG(1)[27296]> Fetch: fetcher used: pkg+https
DBG(1)[27296]> curl> fetching https://pkg.pfsense.org/pfSense_v2_8_1_amd64-core/data.pkg

DBG(1)[27296]> CURL> attempting to fetch from , left retry 3

* Couldn't find host pkg00-atx.netgate.com in the .netrc file; using defaults
* Hostname pkg00-atx.netgate.com was found in DNS cache
*   Trying 208.123.73.207:443...
* Connected to pkg00-atx.netgate.com (208.123.73.207) port 443
* ALPN: curl offers http/1.1
*  CAfile: none
*  CApath: /etc/ssl/certs/
* SSL connection using TLSv1.2 / ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 / X25519 / RSASSA-PSS
* ALPN: server accepted http/1.1
* Server certificate:
*  subject: CN=*.netgate.com
*  start date: Apr 10 00:00:00 2025 GMT
*  expire date: May 11 23:59:59 2026 GMT
*  subjectAltName: host "pkg00-atx.netgate.com" matched cert's "*.netgate.com"
*  issuer: C=GB; ST=Greater Manchester; L=Salford; O=Sectigo Limited; CN=Sectigo RSA Domain Validation Secure Server CA
*  SSL certificate verify ok.
*   Certificate level 0: Public key type RSA (2048/112 Bits/secBits), signed using sha256WithRSAEncryption
*   Certificate level 1: Public key type RSA (2048/112 Bits/secBits), signed using sha384WithRSAEncryption
*   Certificate level 2: Public key type RSA (4096/152 Bits/secBits), signed using sha384WithRSAEncryption
* using HTTP/1.x
> GET /pfSense_v2_8_1_amd64-core/data.pkg HTTP/1.1
Host: pkg00-atx.netgate.com
User-Agent: pkg/1.21.3
Accept: */*
If-Modified-Since: Thu, 28 Aug 2025 16:50:33 GMT

* Request completely sent off
< HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Fetching data.pkg:   0%< Server: nginx
< Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2025 16:06:29 GMT
< Content-Type: application/octet-stream
< Content-Length: 1632
< Last-Modified: Thu, 28 Aug 2025 16:50:33 GMT
< Connection: keep-alive
< ETag: "68b088d9-660"
< Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; preload
< X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
< X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block
< X-Robots-Tag: all
< X-Download-Options: noopen
< X-Permitted-Cross-Domain-Policies: none
< Accept-Ranges: bytes
<
* The requested document is not new enough
* Simulate an HTTP 304 response
* Closing connection

pfSense-core repository is up to date.
Updating pfSense repository catalogue...
DBG(1)[27296]> PkgRepo: verifying update for pfSense
DBG(1)[27296]> Pkgrepo, begin update of '/var/db/pkg/repos/pfSense/db'
DBG(1)[27296]> Request to fetch pkg+https://pkg.pfsense.org/pfSense_v2_8_1_amd64-pfSense_v2_8_1/meta.conf
DBG(1)[27296]> curl_open
DBG(1)[27296]> Fetch: fetcher used: pkg+https
DBG(1)[27296]> curl> fetching https://pkg.pfsense.org/pfSense_v2_8_1_amd64-pfSense_v2_8_1/meta.conf

DBG(1)[27296]> CURL> attempting to fetch from , left retry 3

* Couldn't find host pkg00-atx.netgate.com in the .netrc file; using defaults
* Host pkg00-atx.netgate.com:443 was resolved.
* IPv6: 2610:160:11:18::207
* IPv4: 208.123.73.207
*   Trying 208.123.73.207:443...
* Connected to pkg00-atx.netgate.com (208.123.73.207) port 443
* ALPN: curl offers http/1.1
*  CAfile: none
*  CApath: /etc/ssl/certs/
* SSL connection using TLSv1.2 / ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 / X25519 / RSASSA-PSS
* ALPN: server accepted http/1.1
* Server certificate:
*  subject: CN=*.netgate.com
*  start date: Apr 10 00:00:00 2025 GMT
*  expire date: May 11 23:59:59 2026 GMT
*  subjectAltName: host "pkg00-atx.netgate.com" matched cert's "*.netgate.com"
*  issuer: C=GB; ST=Greater Manchester; L=Salford; O=Sectigo Limited; CN=Sectigo RSA Domain Validation Secure Server CA
*  SSL certificate verify ok.
*   Certificate level 0: Public key type RSA (2048/112 Bits/secBits), signed using sha256WithRSAEncryption
*   Certificate level 1: Public key type RSA (2048/112 Bits/secBits), signed using sha384WithRSAEncryption
*   Certificate level 2: Public key type RSA (4096/152 Bits/secBits), signed using sha384WithRSAEncryption
* using HTTP/1.x
> GET /pfSense_v2_8_1_amd64-pfSense_v2_8_1/meta.conf HTTP/1.1
Host: pkg00-atx.netgate.com
User-Agent: pkg/1.21.3
Accept: */*
If-Modified-Since: Tue, 30 Sep 2025 15:49:19 GMT

* Request completely sent off
< HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Fetching meta.conf:   0%< Server: nginx
< Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2025 16:06:45 GMT
< Content-Type: application/octet-stream
< Content-Length: 179
< Last-Modified: Tue, 30 Sep 2025 15:49:19 GMT
< Connection: keep-alive
< ETag: "68dbfbff-b3"
< Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; preload
< X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
< X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block
< X-Robots-Tag: all
< X-Download-Options: noopen
< X-Permitted-Cross-Domain-Policies: none
< Accept-Ranges: bytes
<
* The requested document is not new enough
* Simulate an HTTP 304 response
* Closing connection

DBG(1)[27296]> Request to fetch pkg+https://pkg.pfsense.org/pfSense_v2_8_1_amd64-pfSense_v2_8_1/data.pkg
DBG(1)[27296]> curl_open
DBG(1)[27296]> Fetch: fetcher used: pkg+https
DBG(1)[27296]> curl> fetching https://pkg.pfsense.org/pfSense_v2_8_1_amd64-pfSense_v2_8_1/data.pkg

DBG(1)[27296]> CURL> attempting to fetch from , left retry 3

* Couldn't find host pkg00-atx.netgate.com in the .netrc file; using defaults
* Hostname pkg00-atx.netgate.com was found in DNS cache
*   Trying 208.123.73.207:443...
* Connected to pkg00-atx.netgate.com (208.123.73.207) port 443
* ALPN: curl offers http/1.1
*  CAfile: none
*  CApath: /etc/ssl/certs/
* SSL connection using TLSv1.2 / ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 / X25519 / RSASSA-PSS
* ALPN: server accepted http/1.1
* Server certificate:
*  subject: CN=*.netgate.com
*  start date: Apr 10 00:00:00 2025 GMT
*  expire date: May 11 23:59:59 2026 GMT
*  subjectAltName: host "pkg00-atx.netgate.com" matched cert's "*.netgate.com"
*  issuer: C=GB; ST=Greater Manchester; L=Salford; O=Sectigo Limited; CN=Sectigo RSA Domain Validation Secure Server CA
*  SSL certificate verify ok.
*   Certificate level 0: Public key type RSA (2048/112 Bits/secBits), signed using sha256WithRSAEncryption
*   Certificate level 1: Public key type RSA (2048/112 Bits/secBits), signed using sha384WithRSAEncryption
*   Certificate level 2: Public key type RSA (4096/152 Bits/secBits), signed using sha384WithRSAEncryption
* using HTTP/1.x
> GET /pfSense_v2_8_1_amd64-pfSense_v2_8_1/data.pkg HTTP/1.1
Host: pkg00-atx.netgate.com
User-Agent: pkg/1.21.3
Accept: */*
If-Modified-Since: Tue, 30 Sep 2025 15:49:19 GMT

* Request completely sent off
< HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Fetching data.pkg:   0%< Server: nginx
< Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2025 16:06:45 GMT
< Content-Type: application/octet-stream
< Content-Length: 189818
< Last-Modified: Tue, 30 Sep 2025 15:49:19 GMT
< Connection: keep-alive
< ETag: "68dbfbff-2e57a"
< Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; preload
< X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
< X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block
< X-Robots-Tag: all
< X-Download-Options: noopen
< X-Permitted-Cross-Domain-Policies: none
< Accept-Ranges: bytes
<
* The requested document is not new enough
* Simulate an HTTP 304 response
* Closing connection

pfSense repository is up to date.
All repositories are up to date.

[Gertjan]

@PnoT said in check_upgrade: "Updating repositories metadata" returned error code 1:

The requested document is not new enough

... The requested document is not new enough ... Like here ?

[stephenw10]

The document not new enough message is not an error. It just means it's already up to date.

The only actual error there is:

* ipv4 connect timeout after 19808ms, move on!
* Failed to connect to pkg00-atx.netgate.com port 443 after 30009 ms: Timeout was reached
* Closing connection

That's a problem, it should be able to connect there. But it does successfully connect to the other pkg server. And then later is able to connect to pkg00.

So there could be an intermittent connection issue.

[PnoT]

@stephenw10
I was finally able to reboot the pfSense box late last night, and since it's back up, I'm not getting the error messages anymore. I'll report back if it pops up again.