🟡 Medium   ⏱ 5–30 min  Last verified: 19 May 2026
Affected versions: FreeBSD 12

📖 ~1 min read

Table of contents
  1. Symptom & Impact
  2. Environment & Reproduction
  3. Root Cause Analysis
  4. Quick Triage
  5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
  6. Solution – Primary Fix
  7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
  8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
  9. Rollback Plan
  10. Prevention & Hardening
  11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
  12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

poudriere builds fail while fetching distfiles over HTTPS, delaying custom package repository updates.

Environment & Reproduction

Build logs show certificate verify failed errors inside build jail while host networking appears healthy.

Root Cause Analysis

Missing ca_root_nss package in jail, stale cert store, or wrong SSL_CERT_FILE path are frequent causes.

Quick Triage

Check poudriere logs, verify cert bundle location, and test HTTPS fetch from inside the build jail.

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Confirm trust store packages in jail and compare environment variables affecting TLS verification. image_ref=0

Illustrative mockup for freebsd-12 — terminal_or_shell
Reviewing poudriere build logs and package fetch errors — Illustrative mockup — Progressive Robot

Solution – Primary Fix

Install ca_root_nss in the jail, run certctl rehash if needed, and restart the build job. image_ref=1

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Illustrative mockup for freebsd-12 — log_or_config
Inspecting cert bundle paths inside poudriere jails — Illustrative mockup — Progressive Robot

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Mirror distfiles internally and use trusted local endpoints to reduce external certificate dependencies.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Distfiles fetch without TLS errors and package build pipeline completes successfully end-to-end.

Rollback Plan

Revert jail package set and restore previous poudriere image if trust store updates introduce regressions.

Prevention & Hardening

Patch build jails regularly and include certificate trust checks in CI before lengthy bulk builds.

Related failures include pkg bootstrap TLS errors and git clone certificate verification failures in jails.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for freebsd-12.

View all freebsd-12 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

See poudriere documentation, man certctl, and FreeBSD package building best-practice guides.

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