IPFire Core update keeps failing

I have a machine for my friend that missed a couple updates (Currently on Core 138) but in the bottom left corner, it says he’s running Core 141. It’s also running x64, not x86. When attempting to update, it gets the error listed in the attached Screenshot. This is remote, so I do not have direct access to the machine. It sat off during most of COVID Quarantine and now is back in use. It is still unable to update. Is there anything that can be done besides a fresh install? How unsafe is it to run on 138? I was able to update Squid and ClamAV no problem.

It’s a home network with only 2 users.

It’s being used as a glorified router, and a VPN connection to just one other IPFire box. I appreciate any input! Thank you.

Pakfire not work because IPFire 2.25 core139 not exist so it cannot found the update. Sounds like a power loss or out of disk space/disk io error while the update is running.

You shoulld backup all your data and try to reset the version back to 2.23 in /etc/system/release
than run “pakfire update” and “pakfire upgrade” again.

Thank you for the reply! Is there an article on how to do that? Forgive me, I’m not an expert by any means but trying to learn! Cheers.

Hi David. Welcome to the IPFire Community!

This should help:
https://wiki.ipfire.org/configuration/system/backup

I appreciate the replies! I was unable to load the ISO because it was showing 0 bytes.

Am I able to revert it back to 2.23 remotely through command? I am able to connect to it by temporarily opening port 22. Is there an article or instructions on how to do that? I am not an expert with Linux so I appreciate the patience. Thank you in advance.

This was a known bug of that era. Although you might find the solution in these forums you would still then be faced with 14 core updates, to get to current release, with several intermediate reboots plus a lot of “dross files” to be cleaned up in the process.

Firstly, download the latest backup listed from the “System” tab, Backup view, and save it to your Windows or Linux workstation computer.

As a learning curve, you could then try activating “ssh” and resetting the version back to 2.23, as described above, but it might be quicker and more reliable to download the latest (core 153 x86_64) ISO and do a fresh install, with only mandatory settings, then restore your backup file. The backup file is only settings - not code.

Due to currently unresolved bug on google meet on Core 153

my advice is to not download Core 153 and download a Core 152 iso for the install.
Source for Core 152
https://www.ipfire.org/download/ipfire-2.25-core152

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This was remote so reinstalling was a last option, but that is the route that I went. Walked him through the install and restored the backup file. Thanks for your inputs on this issue. And appreciate the issue regarding 153, so I did install Core 152!

One question I had though: When I restored the back file (with logs) it did not restore the data under ‘Net-Traffic’ did I do something wrong or is this not part of the backup? I would like to know how to restore this in the future. Thank you!