PiHole failing to install on raspbian buster. FTL Error: Unable to get latest release location from GitHub

[dorian]

Please follow the below template, it will help us to help you!

Expected Behaviour:

Pihole should install.

Actual Behaviour:

Initial PiHole install fails trying to find and install FTL.

Rpi3bv2 with canakit 2.5A power supply.

I've Googled this problem and have seen the standard solutions to change my nameserver to 8.8.8.8 and reinstall my ca-certificates. Raspbian buster doesn't come with dnsmasq installed and I've tried installing with and without dnsmasq installed. I've tried --unsecure installations and I've tried both the curl and the wget installation methods.
I've checked the time, date and location to make sure everything is right. I've swapped my Ethernet cables and tested them with my cable tester. I've tried it with buster desktop and buster lite.

Since this is the initial installation none of the PiHole commands work yet so suggesting I try PiHole -r will get nowhere. Same goes for asking for the debug token.

I can ping google.ca I can ping 8.8.8.8 I can ping GitHub and the install downloads and installs lighttpd in the step before FTL install fails to get latest release location from GitHub.

I can't easily find a copy of stretch, nor can I find a place to manually download and install FTL. I could try beta5 but if I can't get a stable version to install I doubt the beta will be any better.

I have swapped sd cards and tried fresh installs with etcher.

I've tried locally through a terminal and I've tried through ssh to install this.

Every single time it fails at downloading and installing FTL with Error: Unable to get latest release location from GitHub. FTL engine not installed and then the install fails.

Debug Token:

PiHole won't install. No debug token.

[deHakkelaar]

@dorian

nor can I find a place to manually download and install FTL.

https://docs.pi-hole.net/main/basic-install/

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole.git Pi-hole
cd "Pi-hole/automated install/"
sudo bash basic-install.sh

Or:

wget -O basic-install.sh https://install.pi-hole.net
sudo bash basic-install.sh

[dorian]

Neither of those downloads FTL specifically but just to be sure I ran both of those (if you read through my post you would see I had already done those) and they both fail at the same place as stated in my post.

[x] Downloading and Installing FTL
Error: Unable to get latest release location from GitHub
[x] FTL Engine not installed

The direct download link I'm looking for is for FTL specifically so I can download it separately and install it. There is something wrong with the link or repository included in the pi-hole install. It cannot find FTL, if you have a link to just FTL I will download and install it separately to see if the install will skip that step if it detects it already installed so it can complete the install.

Thanks.

[deHakkelaar]

Checkout below:

Cannot install Pi-Hole

That rules out DHCP lease renewal as a cause for the rewrite. I'm out of ideas as to what's causing this... As another attempt ot preserve a public DNS server during installation, you could try altering resolvconf's default settings: sudo nano /etc/resolvconf/resolv.conf.d/head # Dynamic resolv.conf(5) file for glibc resolver(3) generated by resolvconf(8) # DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE BY HAND -- YOUR CHANGES WILL BE OVERWRITTEN nameserver 8.8.8.8 Exit with saving, then restart resolvconf: s…

And below from the same thread:

Cannot install Pi-Hole

I typed up below but maybe first try @Bucking_Horn method with resolvconf. Lets see if we can get it running anyway. nameserver hack first: sudo tee /etc/resolv.conf <<< $'nameserver 8.8.8.8' Get the binary (correct one this time ): sudo wget https://github.com/pi-hole/FTL/releases/download/v4.3.1/pihole-FTL-arm-linux-gnueabi -O /usr/bin/pihole-FTL sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/pihole-FTL Get the init.d script that should start the pihole-FTL binary as a systemd service: sudo curl -s htt…

EDIT: below the binaries for specific architecture (dpkg --print-architecture):

Release v5.24 · pi-hole/FTL

[dorian]

Working through the first set of instructions, after the line
sudo bash -x /etc/init.d/pihole-FTL restart

it ends with:
dnsmasq: failed to create listening socket for port 53: Address already in use
Notice: Found no readable FTL config file+ echo

• exit 0

After that the line host github.com localhost give me:
Using domain server:
Name: localhost
Address: ::l#53
Aliases:

Host github.com not found: 5(REFUSED)

I am going to restart the pi and try the instructions again from the start in case something else done has caused an issue in the process.

EDIT: This time it found host github, but the next step (install pihole again) still fails at the FTL stage.

EDIT: Tried the other option as well and still had the same problem. I'm going to reflash with etcher and try the solutions again. Standby.

[deHakkelaar]

@dorian

dnsmasq: failed to create listening socket for port 53: Address already in use

Another daemon running already that has binded to port 53 ?

sudo netstat -nltup | grep 'Proto\|:53 \|:67 \|:80 \|:471[1-8]'

@dorian

Notice: Found no readable FTL config file+ echo

Wat config files do you have ?

sudo grep -v '^#\|^$' -R /etc/dnsmasq.* | sort

EDIT: Dont install dnsmasq!
dnsmasq is already embeded into the pihole-FTL binary.

[dorian]

Sorry too late, it's being reflashed. I will run through everything here again when it's done and report back.

[dorian]

All sorts of funk going on now.
Fresh image of raspbian buster desktop installed and updated.
sudo nano /etc/resolvconf/resolv.conf.d/head tells me that folder doesn't exist now and the file is empty.
sudo netstat -ntlup | grep 'Proto|:53 |:67 |:80 |:471[1-8]'
responds with nothing listed under any of the headings
sudo grep -v '^#|^$' -R /etc/dnsmasq.* | sort
returns no such file or directory.

[deHakkelaar]

@dorian

Fresh image of raspbian buster desktop installed and updated.

I wouldn't install with a desktop.

1. Eats resources like CPU/RAM/disk;
2. More software means less stable/secure;
3. You hardly need to use it;
4. The desktop probably comes with its own network manager/mangler conflicting with Pi-hole's own mangler called dhcpcd5.

Try download/flash the Buster lite version without a desktop,
set timezone/hostname (sudo raspi-config),
run updates (sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade)
and run the installer again.

[jfb]

@deHakkelaar

set timezone/hostname

And language/keyboard

[deHakkelaar]

Also forgot to mention to enable SSH "Interfacing options" while running sudo raspi-config.

[dorian]

I've installed buster lite, run the commands you've specified and reran the installer.

Same error same location.

[DanSchaper]

It's a known bug and fixed in version 5.

There's a workaround in https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/tree/fix/latettag_newline but I'm not sure how to actually get that out. A point release at this juncture isn't likely.

[deHakkelaar]

Did you try below (create file if dont exists) ?

Cannot install Pi-Hole

That rules out DHCP lease renewal as a cause for the rewrite. I'm out of ideas as to what's causing this... As another attempt ot preserve a public DNS server during installation, you could try altering resolvconf's default settings: sudo nano /etc/resolvconf/resolv.conf.d/head # Dynamic resolv.conf(5) file for glibc resolver(3) generated by resolvconf(8) # DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE BY HAND -- YOUR CHANGES WILL BE OVERWRITTEN nameserver 8.8.8.8 Exit with saving, then restart resolvconf: s…

[dorian]

I had tried that on previous incarnations, should I just try to install v5 fresh or is that just going to cause more issues?

It so, what's the instructions to install v5 fresh? I've seen the upgrade instructions but you need v4 installed for those to work.

[deHakkelaar]

It cant do any harm and is easy to revert by just deleting that file again.
Not sure bout fresh v5.

[jfb]

@dorian

what’s the instructions to install v5 fresh?

There are no tested instructions to install a fresh copy of 5.0 beta.

[DanSchaper]

@dorian

It so, what’s the instructions to install v5 fresh?

There really aren't any right now. I'll see if I can cobble something together that would work but it may take me a bit to do.

[dorian]

Ok I tried modifying the resolv.conf.d/head and FTL still failed.

Dan that link you provided made it look like the fresh FTL install was looking for a tbd file and that was the problem, not having a problem with DNS (although that might also be a problem) but the FTL install link tries to update FTL but on a fresh install it's set to tbd not the actual release file?

[deHakkelaar]

@DanSchaper , could below work for quick v4 + fix ?

curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | sed 's/grep "Location"/grep --color=never "Location"/' | bash