Pf Configuration Incompatible: With Pf Program Version

On FreeBSD:

Compare this with the kernel module version:

First, confirm the mismatch. Check the version and status of your kernel module and user-land tool:

On macOS:

Common causes:

This occurs when you restore a configuration file from one operating system onto another.

If the syntax check fails globally, check whether your user-facing tools match your running kernel. This is highly common after source-based system updates or incomplete binary updates. Check your running kernel version: uname -a Use code with caution. Check the version and build date of your pfctl utility: whereis pfctl ls -l /sbin/pfctl Use code with caution. pf configuration incompatible with pf program version

The error typically appears in three scenarios:

Check for:

Using source (for advanced users):

If you’ve patched PF in the kernel (e.g., with custom pfsync or pflog changes) but use a standard pfctl , the internal API version numbers will diverge.

Or on some systems:

Use absolute paths ( /sbin/pfctl ) to rule out an environment path issue. On FreeBSD: Compare this with the kernel module