Can't Access FreeBSD Packages Due to Filtering

hbsd · 2026-02-03T10:54:55+0000

Hi, due to very heavy filtering in Iran, I cannot install/update/upgrade FreeBSD packages.
I found several FreeBSD mirrors with servers located in Iran, but even after configuring them, I still get no results. This is my conf:

/etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf:

Code:

FreeBSD: {
  url: "pkg+https://mirror.0-1.cloud/freebsd/${ABI}/quarterly",
  mirror_type: "srv",
  signature_type: "fingerprints",
  fingerprints: "/usr/share/keys/pkg",
  enabled: yes
}
FreeBSD-kmods: {
  url: "pkg+https://mirror.0-1.cloud/freebsd//${ABI}/kmods_quarterly_${VERSION_MINOR}",
  mirror_type: "srv",
  signature_type: "fingerprints",
  fingerprints: "/usr/share/keys/pkg",
  enabled: yes
}

I even ran the command sudo pkg update -, but I got the message "0.0 k/s - stalled."
I tried using these two mirrors, but they didn't work:

mirror.mobinhost.com | powered by MobinHost

MobinHost public mirror archive

mirror.mobinhost.com

mirror.0-1.ir | powered by Sefroyek Pardaz

Sefroyek Pardaz public mirror archive

mirror.0-1.cloud

Someone told me that FreeBSD does this for security reasons and that using other mirrors is not possible.
Please let me know if you have any ideas about this issue. Is there a way to bypass this problem?
Access to a VPN is not available, and I can only solve the problem through a server located within the country. For programming languages and frameworks, I was able to find solutions, but there are no sanction-circumvention tools for this issue, and they do not support this operating system and its repositories.

Thanks

SirDice · 2026-02-03T11:05:20+0000

Those aren't package mirrors.

hbsd · 2026-02-03T11:27:21+0000

SirDice said:
Those aren't package mirrors.

Thank you. Do you have any solution or suggestion for this problem? If you were in my situation, what would you do, considering that VPN services are also having serious issues...

AlfredoLlaquet · 2026-02-03T11:38:38+0000

In those websites (they are not package mirrors, as previously established) there seems to be part of the FreeBSD base system in different formats, but I doubt that you can find the ports/packages there (they are probably too big). Anyway you can try to investigate further those websites and see what you can get from them by downloading this and that locally and then see what you can do from there. If you can contact those websites, maybe they can help you understand how can you use what they store.

Edit: You should somehow check if you can trust them. They are not official.

Another thing you can do is nothing. Make do with what you've got. FreeBSD is renowned for being a very robust system, so you probably can work with your current system for months or years without updating it.

nxjoseph · 2026-02-03T11:39:15+0000

Maybe anti-DPI proxy solutions such as net/spoofdpi could help?

To put proxy in /usr/local/etc/pkg.conf:

Code:

           pkg_env: {
               http_proxy: "http://127.0.0.1:8080",
           }

hbsd · 2026-02-03T11:54:47+0000

AlfredoLlaquet said:
In those websites (they are not package mirrors, as previously established) there seems to be part of the FreeBSD base system in different formats, but I doubt that you can find the ports/packages there (they are probably too big). Anyway you can try to investigate further those websites and see what you can get from them by downloading this and that locally and then see what you can do from there. If you can contact those websites, maybe they can help you understand how can you use what they store.

Edit: You should somehow check if you can trust them. They are not official.

Another thing you can do is nothing. Make do with what you've got. FreeBSD is renowned for being a very robust system, so you probably can work with your current system for months or years without updating it.

Honestly, I don't trust any of the mirrors at all, but I'm really forced to use them. Even to install other tools like Laravel, I had to use a mirror, which is completely unsafe

I've submitted a request ticket for FreeBSD packages to the support team of one of those sites. Thanks.

hbsd · 2026-02-03T11:58:27+0000

nxjoseph said:
Maybe anti-DPI proxy solutions such as net/spoofdpi could help?

To put proxy in /usr/local/etc/pkg.conf:

Code:

pkg_env: { http_proxy: "http://127.0.0.1:8080", }

Thanks, I'll manually download the package with vpn on my phone and install it on the system to see what the result is...

nxjoseph · 2026-02-03T12:00:01+0000

hbsd said:
Thanks, I'll manually download the package with vpn on my phone and install it on the system to see what the result is...

Good luck, Maybe you could also try building it from ports tree if possible.

AlfredoLlaquet · 2026-02-03T12:21:51+0000

Downloading a single package without its dependencies is going to be hard to install locally, but it can be a start. You download that package, try to install it locally, see what dependencies are missing, and then get the packages of those dependencies.

I'm talking very theoretically here. I have no experience in doing this and I wouldn't know how to do it right now without first reading the right section of the pkg man page and some others, I guess.

Edit: I'd also recommend that you to study that spoofpi util that nxjoseph pointed out. It seems like something very practical for your circumstances.

Can't Access FreeBSD Packages Due to Filtering

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