Upgrade Candidate Discrepancy

[pholt]

On my network I have a live OPNsense machine and an identically configured backup. This is not HA. It's just a backup machine dangling on the network by its WAN port so I can keep it updated and swap it in if the main router fails. It doesn't route anything because the LAN port isn't connected. The setup has been fine for ages.

I noticed recently when I check for updates, the output doesn't look right. I have not changed anything in either configuration for a long time. I just apply updates as they become available. Does anyone have any theories?

MAIN MACHINE

***GOT REQUEST TO CHECK FOR UPDATES***
Currently running OPNsense 26.7.4_1 (amd64) at Fri Sep 25 09:59:47 EDT 2026
Fetching changelog information, please wait... done
Updating OPNsense repository catalogue...
Fetching meta.conf: . done
Fetching data.pkg: .......... done
Processing entries: .......... done
OPNsense repository update completed. 931 packages processed.
All repositories are up to date.
Checking for upgrades (1 candidates): . done
Processing candidates (1 candidates): . done
Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
Your packages are up to date.
***DONE***

BACKUP MACHINE
***GOT REQUEST TO CHECK FOR UPDATES***
Currently running OPNsense 26.7.4_1 (amd64) at Fri Sep 25 10:00:22 EDT 2026
Fetching changelog information, please wait... done
Updating OPNsense repository catalogue...
Fetching meta.conf: . done
Fetching data.pkg: .......... done
Processing entries: .......... done
OPNsense repository update completed. 931 packages processed.
All repositories are up to date.
Checking for upgrades (86 candidates): .......... done
Processing candidates (86 candidates): . done
Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
Your packages are up to date.
***DONE***

[pholt]

I ran this command from the shell:

opnsense-update -fp

That seemed to clear everything up. Both machines are current and now show zero candidates.

[pholt]

I just updated to 26.7.5, and the discrepancy returned:

***GOT REQUEST TO CHECK FOR UPDATES***
Currently running OPNsense 26.7.5 (amd64) at Wed Sep 30 09:55:28 EDT 2026
Fetching changelog information, please wait... done
Updating OPNsense repository catalogue...
Fetching meta.conf: . done
Fetching data: .......... done
Processing entries: .......... done
OPNsense repository update completed. 946 packages processed.
All repositories are up to date.
Checking for upgrades (161 candidates): .......... done
Processing candidates (161 candidates): . done
Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
Your packages are up to date.
***DONE***

[franco]

You haven't posted a health audit so far.


Cheers,
Franco

[pholt]

Health audit follows:

***GOT REQUEST TO AUDIT HEALTH***
Currently running OPNsense 26.7.5 (amd64) at Thu Oct  1 11:24:40 EDT 2026
>>> Root file system: zroot/ROOT/default
>>> Check installed kernel version
Version 26.7.4 is correct.
>>> Check for missing or altered kernel files
No problems detected.
>>> Check installed base version
Version 26.7.4 is correct.
>>> Check for missing or altered base files
No problems detected.
>>> Check installed repositories
OPNsense (Priority: 11)
>>> Check installed plugins
No plugins found.
>>> Check locked packages
No locks found.
>>> Check for missing package dependencies
Checking all packages: .......... done
>>> Check for missing or altered package files
Checking all packages: .......... done
>>> Check for core packages consistency
Core package "opnsense" at 26.7.5 has 69 dependencies to check.
Checking packages: ...................................................................... done
***DONE***

[franco]

Well this looks as expected.


Cheers,
Franco

[pholt]

Are the lingering update candidates is just some kind of random artifact? I'm curious because, the number is different on each identically configured machine.