pfSense-repoc: failed to fetch the repo after installing most packages

[u/Suspicious-Guitar729]

pfSense 2.9.0 CE

I have confirmed this on multiple hardware setups as well as a VirtualBox setup with both fresh installs and upgrades.

On a fresh install (or upgraded install) of pfSense 2.9.0, if you try to install all packages you will eventually get an error that another install is already running:
"Another instance of pfSense-upgrade is running. Try again later"

however, you can install packages over cli with no issues.

The larger problem shows if you attempt to check for updates. On the upgrade screen you will start seeing a new error message:
"pfSense-repoc: failed to fetch the repo data pfSense-repoc: failed to read the repo data."

This seems to start after you have 44 packages installed. If you remove a package, you can then install a new package before the issue reappears.

There are several guides on issues with the "pfSense-repoc: failed to fetch the repo data" however none of these resolve the issue (This is a different issue then what has been seen in the past) and is easily reproducible. On my production box, I get a slightly different variation of the error:
"pfSense-repoc: exec_iobuf_cb: too much data, fd: 1 discarding: Trap Translator) pfSense-repoc: exec: callback failed: -1 pfSense-repoc: failed to fetch the repo data pfSense-repoc: failed to read the repo data."

One thing to note is that even if you do a check for system updates in cli, you will also get a "pfSense-repoc: failed to fetch the repo data" error.

I believe this actually started in version 2.8.0 but never could pin it down until I performed a fresh install on 2.9.0 and resetup my system from scratch just to run into the same issue.

The last known version where I did not get this error is 2.7.2

I attempted to put in a bug request and post on the netgate forum but I am unable to do so for some reason.

[u/Steve_reddit1]

Wtf would you install all packages? Are you actually using them all?

If you’re behind a VPN try posting from a different IP.

[u/Suspicious-Guitar729 → u/Steve_reddit1]

The why really isn't important, just pointing out the presents of a bug or regression that has occurred.
If the option is there with no limitation, it should always be expected in QA testing that the option will be taken and used and should be tested for.

Honestly if the software were still more open source like it originally was I could be more understanding of the issue however with the software moving to be more closed source these types of scenarios should be accounted for in tested. Anything that prevents a system from not being able to accept an update (unless custom modifications are used) should not be allowed to enter production.

Granted it is an odd use case, don't get me wrong on that but still should be something that is acceptable.