Troubleshooting a Broken pkg Database

In rare edge cases it is possible for the pkg database in /var/db/pkg/ to become corrupted. In the unlikely event this happens to a firewall, it can usually be corrected by running a few commands to re-create the database.

Note

The following commands only account for the base system of a typical CE installation.

  • Ensure that the package database directory exists:

    /bin/mkdir -p /var/db/pkg/ /root/var/db/pkg/

  • Force an update of the package repository data:

    /usr/local/sbin/pkg-static update -f

  • Force a reinstall of the pfSense® software base package and kernel:

    /usr/local/sbin/pkg-static install -yf pkg pfSense pfSense-kernel-pfSense

  • Refresh the php.ini and other files to ensure they are loading the correct modules:

    /etc/rc.php_ini_setup

  • If any additional packages were installed, reinstall them manually using the GUI if possible, or by using pkg-static install as above:

    /usr/local/sbin/pkg-static install -yf <additional-package> <another-additional-package>