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Monit: poll time validation rejects "/", blocking the cron step syntax recommended by Monit 6

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@electronicm is already working on this.

Since Oct 20, 2026.

  • #11059 by @electronicm — open

Assessment

Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Newbie friendliness
79/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
php
Domain
backend, devtools

Research direction

Read src/opnsense/mvc/app/models/OPNsense/Monit/Monit.xml and inspect the polltime validation mask. The report says allowing "/" lets the cron step expression */3 * * * * save and produces valid monitrc output; start by checking the existing validation and the generated configuration. Done means the expression is accepted and the local checks described in the issue pass.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

Important notices

Before you add a new report, we ask you kindly to acknowledge the following:

If AI was used, please disclose:

  • Model used: Mistral Vibe Code GLM-5.3 (Mistral Hosted)
  • Extent of AI involvement: AI tools were used to draft and research this report; the reporter reviewed and validated the content, local testing was performed by the reporter.

Describe the bug
The "Poll time" field of the Monit service dialog rejects the "/" character,
so cron step expressions such as */3 * * * * cannot be entered. Monit 6.0.0
deprecates "every N cycles" in favour of cron-style schedules, so the
recommended migration syntax is currently impossible to configure from the GUI.

To Reproduce

  1. Services > Monit > Configuration > Services, edit a service
  2. Enable advanced mode, scroll to "Poll time"
  3. Enter */3 * * * *
  4. Save -> error: "Should be a string between 1 and 255 characters. Allowed
    characters are letters and numbers as well as asterisk, hyphen, comma and space."

Expected behavior
The cron step syntax recommended by Monit 6 should be accepted, since the
monitrc backend already passes cron-style values through correctly
(e.g. every "15-17 4 * * 1").

Environment

  • OPNsense 26.7.x, Monit 6.0.0 (bundled since 26.7.3)
  • Affected field: polltime in src/opnsense/mvc/app/models/OPNsense/Monit/Monit.xml,
    mask /^([0-9a-zA-Z*-, ]){1,255}$/u
  • Restriction predates Monit 6, but its impact starts with the "every N cycles"
    deprecation in Monit 6.0.0

Local verification
Extending the mask to allow "/" permits entering */3 * * * ; the generated
monitrc contains every "/3 * * * *", monit -t passes and the
"every N cycles" deprecation warnings disappear. Alerting behaviour unchanged.

Ref: opnsense/plugins#4468 (same validation message, filed while Monit was
still a plugin)
Environment

Software version used and hardware type if relevant, e.g.:

OPNsense 23.7.7 (amd64).
Deciso DEC750

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