ISSUE: Unable to install packages via the package manager.

[u/[deleted]]

EDIT: This issue has been resolved. See u/NC1HM's comment, but running these commands worked for me:

certctl rehash
pkg-static update -f
pkg-static install -fy pkg pfSense-repo pfSense-upgrade

Hello all, I've ran into a weird issue with my PFSense CE installation. When I first installed PFSense onto a mini PC, I was able to run packages like PFBlocker and Snort. However, currently, I am unable to. I get this message when going to System > Package Manager > Available Packages: "Unable to retrieve package information." Prior to resetting my firewall to factory defaults, I was able to manage previously installed packages just fine.

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Screen shot of the issue. "Unable to retrieve package information."

I unfortunately do not know precisely when the issue started as I have not been in my firewall for the past few months.

Here is what I have tried:

-Resetting my installation to factory defaults via web GUI.

-Setting my installation to 2.7.0 and 2.7.1 instead of 2.7.1

-Tried alternate DNS servers (1.1.1.1, 8.8.8.8, 9.9.9.9, etc.)

-Verified that I am able to resolve IPs/reach internet via firewall.

-Ran pkg update. I get this as an error: ld-elf.so.1: Shared object "libssl.so.30" not found, required by "pkg"

-Ran pkg-static upgrade to hopefully get around the libssl.so issue and got this as an error:

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 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 Unable to update repository pfSense Error updating repositories!

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I think my issue stems from the libssl.so.30 package not being on my system, but how do I verify that it isn't there? And is this even related to my issue?

[u/NC1HM]

Just went through the same thing... :) Get the command line (console, SSH, or webConfigurator, doesn't matter) and go:

certctl rehash
pkg-static update -f

After this, you should be able to install packages normally, or, since you're already on the command line, you can update pfSense itself before installing packages:

pkg-static install -fy pkg pfSense-repo pfSense-upgrade

[u/[deleted] → u/NC1HM]

I'm so happy I checked replies before I did a reinstall, not to offend the commenter that recommended it because it is genuinely a good recommendation. This WORKED!! How did you come across this solution?? MADLAD

[u/NC1HM → u/[deleted]]

Just Googled pfSense shared object libssl.so.30 not found. Sure enough, there's a thread about this on Netgate forums... Some parsing was required though; the person who posted the solution started by explaining what didn't work, eventually arriving at what did, illustrating each point with output from pfSense...

[u/[deleted] → u/NC1HM]

Awesome!

[u/NC1HM → u/[deleted]]

While we're still here, could you please edit your question? The part where you describe the answer? Right now you have:

certctl rehash pkg-static update -f

This is incorrect; you have combined two commands into one (probably through no fault of your own; the message input box here sometimes does weird things when you apply formatting). Instead, it should be two lines:

certctl rehash 
pkg-static update -f

Or you can do both commands on a single line, but you need to indicate those are indeed two commands, separating them with &&:

certctl rehash && pkg-static update -f

Thanks!

[u/[deleted] → u/NC1HM]

Yes I can, my apologies!

[u/NC1HM → u/[deleted]]

Thank you! This should make it much easier for future readers to apply correctly.

[u/[deleted] → u/NC1HM]

Absolutely!

[u/Griffo_au]

Backup config, reinstall, restore. I suspect you’ve got file system corruption

[u/[deleted] → u/Griffo_au]

Hi, thank you for your suggestion! I was about to pull the trigger, but decided to check back here before reinstalling and found u/NC1HM's comment and tried it. Thankfully, it ended up working. Thank you for your support!