Solved pkg error : pkg: sqlite error while executing grmbl in file update.c:154: NOT NULL constraint failed: packages.path

SirDice · Jan 7, 2026

Alain De Vos said:
Dev said it contained "cad/curaengine debug" corrupting

Apparently that port did something weird that corrupted the catalogue, which then caused the sqlite pkg errors.

SirDice · Jan 7, 2026

Alain De Vos said:
Offcourse we all have many questions but don't annoy dev unless you actively contribute.

RCA isn't a bad thing to do.

Alain De Vos · Jan 7, 2026

Well for one, one corrupting package , can bring the whole pkg infracture down, by corrupting the sqlite database, which is bad.
Second somehow it was pushed on the servers without verifying, which is bad.
Third people on quarterly could not upgrade their packages for one day, which is bad.

But hey, some Microsoft automatic upgrades, teared down thousands of servers , not booting anymore , which is more than bad.
And kernel & base of FreeBSD where not affected. Installed ports where not affected.

- 1) Maybe pkg should do more checks on it's incoming data
- 2) Checks on it's storage.
- 3) Pushing databases on the servers should be verified.

But this is only my wild gues

)

SirDice · Jan 7, 2026

The cause of the issue is giving me lots of broken INDEX vibes. But I also think pkg(8) itself could perhaps do some sanity checks because apparently it'll happily import a corrupted catalogue and muck up the database.

Alain De Vos · Jan 7, 2026

The timeline is also interesting. At 12'o clock my bug report entered mailing lists. At 15 'o clock that's only 3 hours later a fix was already available. Then it took one day to be pushed to the servers.
I guess, only wild guess, dev will put in additional checks. Resulting is slow pkg become a bit slower, but we can't have it all in life

Alain De Vos · Thursday at 12:15 PM

Sidenote, i stopped using gentoo/redcore linux because of too many cyclic redundancies and conflicting versions of packages being pulled in. It became one hell. Pkg works much better.

dkaparis · Friday at 7:23 PM

on 13.5-RELEASE-p8 / FreeBSD 13.5-RELEASE-p6 FreeBSD 13.5-RELEASE-p6 GENERIC arm64, `pkg update` still gives me the errors from OP. Are arm64 mirrors propagating more slowly or is the issue still unfixed?

Alain De Vos · Friday at 7:57 PM

Easy to find out do a pkg install PACKAGE_XXX.
Never mind what is written on screen .. cannot elaborate here.
If PACKAGE_XXX get installed everything is fine.

dkaparis · Friday at 10:42 PM

Alain De Vos said:
Easy to find out do a pkg install PACKAGE_XXX.
Never mind what is written on screen .. cannot elaborate here.
If PACKAGE_XXX get installed everything is fine.

If I understand you correctly, everything is not fine for me:

Code:

# pkg install tmux
Updating FreeBSD repository catalogue...
Fetching meta.conf: 100%    179 B   0.2kB/s    00:01   
Fetching data.pkg: 100%   10 MiB  10.3MB/s    00:01   
Processing entries:  99%
pkg: sqlite error while executing grmbl in file update.c:154: NOT NULL constraint failed: packages.path
pkg: sqlite error while executing grmbl in file update.c:154: NOT NULL constraint failed: packages.path
pkg: sqlite error while executing INSERT OR REPLACE INTO packages (origin, name, version, comment, desc, arch, maintainer, www, prefix, pkgsize, flatsize, licenselogic, cksum, path, manifestdigest, olddigest, vital)VALUES (?1, ?2, ?3, ?4, ?5, ?6, ?7, ?8, ?9, ?10, ?11, ?12, ?13, ?14, ?15, ?16, ?17) in file update.c:158: not an error
Processing entries:  99%
Unable to update repository FreeBSD
Error updating repositories!

stafwag · Saturday at 9:45 AM

It looks like the issue is still there on ARM64 with FreeBSD-ports/quarterly, while FreeBSD-ports/latest seems to be fine.

[Bug 292214] ports-mgmt/pkg sqlite error

I can confirm that is the case on my ARM64 systems.With latest

```
root@pigate:~ # pkg repos
FreeBSD-ports: {
url : "pkg+https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:aarch64/latest",
enabled : yes,
priority : 0,
mirror_type : "SRV",
signature_type : "FINGERPRINTS",
fingerprints : "/usr/share/keys/pkg"
}
FreeBSD-ports-kmods: {
url : "pkg+https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:aarch64/kmods_quarterly_0",
enabled : yes,
priority : 0,
mirror_type : "SRV",
signature_type : "FINGERPRINTS",
fingerprints : "/usr/share/keys/pkg"
}
FreeBSD-base: {
url : "pkg+https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:aarch64/base_release_0",
enabled : no,
priority : 0,
mirror_type : "SRV",
signature_type : "FINGERPRINTS",
fingerprints : "/usr/share/keys/pkgbase-15"
}
root@pigate:~ #
```
```
root@pigate:~ # pkg update
Updating FreeBSD-ports repository catalogue...
FreeBSD-ports repository is up to date.
Updating FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository catalogue...
FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository is up to date.
All repositories are up to date.
root@pigate:~ #
```

With quarterly

```
root@wifigate:/var/db/pkg # pkg repos
FreeBSD-ports: {
url : "pkg+https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:aarch64/quarterly",
enabled : yes,
priority : 0,
mirror_type : "SRV",
signature_type : "FINGERPRINTS",
fingerprints : "/usr/share/keys/pkg"
}
FreeBSD-ports-kmods: {
url : "pkg+https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:aarch64/kmods_quarterly_0",
enabled : yes,
priority : 0,
mirror_type : "SRV",
signature_type : "FINGERPRINTS",
fingerprints : "/usr/share/keys/pkg"
}
FreeBSD-base: {
url : "pkg+https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:aarch64/base_release_0",
enabled : no,
priority : 0,
mirror_type : "SRV",
signature_type : "FINGERPRINTS",
fingerprints : "/usr/share/keys/pkgbase-15"
}
root@wifigate:/var/db/pkg #
```

```
root@wifigate:/var/db/pkg # pkg update
Updating FreeBSD-ports repository catalogue...
Fetching meta.conf: 100% 179 B 0.2kB/s 00:01
Fetching data.pkg: 100% 10 MiB 10.4MB/s 00:01
Processing entries: 99%
pkg: sqlite error while executing grmbl in file update.c:154: NOT NULL constraint failed: packages.path
pkg: sqlite error while executing grmbl in file update.c:154: NOT NULL constraint failed: packages.path
pkg: sqlite error while executing INSERT OR REPLACE INTO packages (origin, name, version, comment, desc, arch, maintainer, www
, prefix, pkgsize, flatsize, licenselogic, cksum, path, manifestdigest, olddigest, vital)VALUES (?1, ?2, ?3, ?4, ?5, ?6, ?7, ?
8, ?9, ?10, ?11, ?12, ?13, ?14, ?15, ?16, ?17) in file update.c:158: not an error
Processing entries: 99%
Unable to update repository FreeBSD-ports
Updating FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository catalogue...
FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository is up to date.
Error updating repositories!
root@wifigate:/var/db/pkg #
```

Alain De Vos · Saturday at 10:16 AM

No problem for amd64 , if problem remains for other arch enter bug in bugzilla. It will be fixed soon.

stafwag · Saturday at 11:50 AM

Alain De Vos said:
No problem for amd64 , if problem remains for other arch enter bug in bugzilla. It will be fixed soon.

Created BUG: https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=292332

elding · Saturday at 2:57 PM

stafwag said:
It looks like the issue is still there on ARM64 with FreeBSD-ports/quarterly, while FreeBSD-ports/latest seems to be fine.

[Bug 292214] ports-mgmt/pkg sqlite error

I can confirm that is the case on my ARM64 systems.With latest

```
root@pigate:~ # pkg repos
FreeBSD-ports: {
url : "pkg+https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:aarch64/latest",
enabled : yes,
priority : 0,
mirror_type : "SRV",
signature_type : "FINGERPRINTS",
fingerprints : "/usr/share/keys/pkg"
}
FreeBSD-ports-kmods: {
url : "pkg+https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:aarch64/kmods_quarterly_0",
enabled : yes,
priority : 0,
mirror_type : "SRV",
signature_type : "FINGERPRINTS",
fingerprints : "/usr/share/keys/pkg"
}
FreeBSD-base: {
url : "pkg+https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:aarch64/base_release_0",
enabled : no,
priority : 0,
mirror_type : "SRV",
signature_type : "FINGERPRINTS",
fingerprints : "/usr/share/keys/pkgbase-15"
}
root@pigate:~ #
```
```
root@pigate:~ # pkg update
Updating FreeBSD-ports repository catalogue...
FreeBSD-ports repository is up to date.
Updating FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository catalogue...
FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository is up to date.
All repositories are up to date.
root@pigate:~ #
```

With quarterly

```
root@wifigate:/var/db/pkg # pkg repos
FreeBSD-ports: {
url : "pkg+https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:aarch64/quarterly",
enabled : yes,
priority : 0,
mirror_type : "SRV",
signature_type : "FINGERPRINTS",
fingerprints : "/usr/share/keys/pkg"
}
FreeBSD-ports-kmods: {
url : "pkg+https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:aarch64/kmods_quarterly_0",
enabled : yes,
priority : 0,
mirror_type : "SRV",
signature_type : "FINGERPRINTS",
fingerprints : "/usr/share/keys/pkg"
}
FreeBSD-base: {
url : "pkg+https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:aarch64/base_release_0",
enabled : no,
priority : 0,
mirror_type : "SRV",
signature_type : "FINGERPRINTS",
fingerprints : "/usr/share/keys/pkgbase-15"
}
root@wifigate:/var/db/pkg #
```

```
root@wifigate:/var/db/pkg # pkg update
Updating FreeBSD-ports repository catalogue...
Fetching meta.conf: 100% 179 B 0.2kB/s 00:01
Fetching data.pkg: 100% 10 MiB 10.4MB/s 00:01
Processing entries: 99%
pkg: sqlite error while executing grmbl in file update.c:154: NOT NULL constraint failed: packages.path
pkg: sqlite error while executing grmbl in file update.c:154: NOT NULL constraint failed: packages.path
pkg: sqlite error while executing INSERT OR REPLACE INTO packages (origin, name, version, comment, desc, arch, maintainer, www
, prefix, pkgsize, flatsize, licenselogic, cksum, path, manifestdigest, olddigest, vital)VALUES (?1, ?2, ?3, ?4, ?5, ?6, ?7, ?
8, ?9, ?10, ?11, ?12, ?13, ?14, ?15, ?16, ?17) in file update.c:158: not an error
Processing entries: 99%
Unable to update repository FreeBSD-ports
Updating FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository catalogue...
FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository is up to date.
Error updating repositories!
root@wifigate:/var/db/pkg #
```

I can also confirm that this bug still persists on ARM64 if I try to fetch from ports quarterly:

Bash:

Updating FreeBSD-ports repository catalogue...
Fetching meta.conf: 100%    179 B   0.2kB/s    00:01
Fetching data.pkg: 100%   10 MiB  10.4MB/s    00:01
Processing entries:  99%
pkg: sqlite error while executing grmbl in file update.c:154: NOT NULL constraint failed: packages.path
pkg: sqlite error while executing grmbl in file update.c:154: NOT NULL constraint failed: packages.path
pkg: sqlite error while executing INSERT OR REPLACE INTO packages (origin, name, version, comment, desc, arch, maintainer, www, prefix, pkgsize, flatsize, licenselogic, cksum, path, manifestdigest, olddigest, vital)VALUES (?1, ?2, ?3, ?4, ?5, ?6, ?7, ?8, ?9, ?10, ?11, ?12, ?13, ?14, ?15, ?16, ?17) in file update.c:158: not an error
Processing entries:  99%
Unable to update repository FreeBSD-ports
Updating FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository catalogue...
FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository is up to date.
Error updating repositories!

> uname -msr
FreeBSD 15.0-RELEASE arm64

Alain De Vos · Saturday at 3:31 PM

The friendly dev fixes it in an hour of two. If it has to go to mirrors it can take a day to mirror.

Gert-Jan · Monday at 8:03 AM

Tried what you did in the opening post, still not working on my arm64. Same error as #63.

Gert-Jan · 2026-01-13T10:51:56+0000

Yesterday I did see if I could _not_ use a mirror, didn't help yesterday. But today I can do pkg update to my hearts content without any mirror funny business. All good.

gotnull · 2026-01-13T13:56:22+0000

Still the same on my RPI4 14-3-RELEASE quarterly, I do not plan to switch to later or 15-RELEASE anytime soon so hopefully it should be a matter of time before things get fixed.

Code:

 ~ > pkg update -f
Updating FreeBSD repository catalogue...
Fetching meta.conf: 100%    179 B   0.2kB/s    00:01   
Fetching data.pkg: 100%   10 MiB   2.6MB/s    00:04   
Processing entries:  99%
pkg: sqlite error while executing grmbl in file update.c:154: NOT NULL constraint failed: packages.path
pkg: sqlite error while executing grmbl in file update.c:154: NOT NULL constraint failed: packages.path
pkg: sqlite error while executing INSERT OR REPLACE INTO packages (origin, name, version, comment, desc, arch, maintainer, www, prefix, pkgsize, flatsize, licenselogic, cksum, path, manifestdigest, olddigest, vital)VALUES (?1, ?2, ?3, ?4, ?5, ?6, ?7, ?8, ?9, ?10, ?11, ?12, ?13, ?14, ?15, ?16, ?17) in file update.c:158: not an error
Processing entries:  99%
Unable to update repository FreeBSD
Updating FreeBSD-kmods repository catalogue...
Fetching meta.conf: 100%    179 B   0.2kB/s    00:01   
Fetching data.pkg: 100%   16 KiB  16.9kB/s    00:01   
Processing entries: 100%
FreeBSD-kmods repository update completed. 70 packages processed.
Error updating repositories!

zenbum · 2026-01-13T22:35:21+0000

As of a few minutes ago, my arm64 system seems to update okay for the first time in about a week.

Code:

 root@freebsd:~ # uname -a
FreeBSD gshm-freebsd 15.0-RELEASE-p1 FreeBSD 15.0-RELEASE-p1 releng/15.0-n280999-7bceec30b351 GENERIC arm64
 root@freebsd:~ # pkg -d update -f
Updating FreeBSD-ports repository catalogue...
DBG(1)[3785]> PkgRepo: verifying update for FreeBSD-ports
DBG(1)[3785]> Pkgrepo, begin update of '/var/db/pkg/repos/FreeBSD-ports/db'
DBG(1)[3785]> (fetch) Request to fetch pkg+https://pkg.FreeBSD.org/FreeBSD:15:aarch64/quarterly/meta.conf
DBG(1)[3785]> (fetch) Fetch: fetcher used: pkg+https
Fetching meta.conf: 100%    179 B   0.2kB/s    00:01
DBG(1)[3785]> (fetch) Request to fetch pkg+https://pkg.FreeBSD.org/FreeBSD:15:aarch64/quarterly/data.pkg
DBG(1)[3785]> (fetch) Fetch: fetcher used: pkg+https
Fetching data.pkg: 100%   10 MiB  10.5MB/s    00:01
DBG(1)[3785]> PkgRepo: extracting data of repo FreeBSD-ports
DBG(1)[3786]> PkgRepo: extracting signature of repo in a sandbox
DBG(1)[3785]> Pkgrepo, reading new metadata
Processing entries: 100%
FreeBSD-ports repository update completed. 35450 packages processed.
Updating FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository catalogue...
DBG(1)[3785]> PkgRepo: verifying update for FreeBSD-ports-kmods
DBG(1)[3785]> Pkgrepo, begin update of '/var/db/pkg/repos/FreeBSD-ports-kmods/db'
DBG(1)[3785]> (fetch) Request to fetch pkg+https://pkg.FreeBSD.org/FreeBSD:15:aarch64/kmods_quarterly_0/meta.conf
DBG(1)[3785]> (fetch) Fetch: fetcher used: pkg+https
Fetching meta.conf: 100%    179 B   0.2kB/s    00:01
DBG(1)[3785]> (fetch) Request to fetch pkg+https://pkg.FreeBSD.org/FreeBSD:15:aarch64/kmods_quarterly_0/data.pkg
DBG(1)[3785]> (fetch) Fetch: fetcher used: pkg+https
Fetching data.pkg: 100%   14 KiB  14.4kB/s    00:01
DBG(1)[3785]> PkgRepo: extracting data of repo FreeBSD-ports-kmods
DBG(1)[3788]> PkgRepo: extracting signature of repo in a sandbox
DBG(1)[3785]> Pkgrepo, reading new metadata
Processing entries: 100%
FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository update completed. 61 packages processed.
Updating FreeBSD-base repository catalogue...
DBG(1)[3785]> PkgRepo: verifying update for FreeBSD-base
DBG(1)[3785]> Pkgrepo, begin update of '/var/db/pkg/repos/FreeBSD-base/db'
DBG(1)[3785]> (fetch) Request to fetch pkg+https://pkg.FreeBSD.org/FreeBSD:15:aarch64/base_release_0/meta.conf
DBG(1)[3785]> (fetch) Fetch: fetcher used: pkg+https
Fetching meta.conf: 100%    179 B   0.2kB/s    00:01
DBG(1)[3785]> (fetch) Request to fetch pkg+https://pkg.FreeBSD.org/FreeBSD:15:aarch64/base_release_0/data.pkg
DBG(1)[3785]> (fetch) Fetch: fetcher used: pkg+https
Fetching data.pkg: 100%   78 KiB  80.3kB/s    00:01
DBG(1)[3785]> PkgRepo: extracting data of repo FreeBSD-base
DBG(1)[3790]> PkgRepo: extracting signature of repo in a sandbox
DBG(1)[3785]> Pkgrepo, reading new metadata
Processing entries: 100%
FreeBSD-base repository update completed. 489 packages processed.
All repositories are up to date.

Solved pkg error : pkg: sqlite error while executing grmbl in file update.c:154: NOT NULL constraint failed: packages.path

SirDice

Administrator

SirDice

Administrator

Alain De Vos

SirDice

Administrator

Alain De Vos

Alain De Vos

dkaparis

Alain De Vos

dkaparis

stafwag

Alain De Vos

stafwag

elding

Alain De Vos

Gert-Jan

Gert-Jan

gotnull

zenbum