BeatificaBytes

So, as one cannot manually download the Synology package (SPK file), the idea is to simply capture the SPK during its installation (even if that installation fails).

First, log into a SSH console via putty and enter root mode.

Create the following script, named ‘capture.sh’

This script will

1. first, delete the temporary folder from the volume where you will install the package to be captured. Ex.: /volume1/@tmp
2. next, loop until you press any key. And during the loop, it will copy any (new) content from the temporary folder into a folder named ‘SynoCapture’ on a target shared folder. Ex.: on your NAS’ web folder /var/services/web/

So, concretely,

1. Run the script via a command like: ./capture volume1 /var/services/web/
2. Install your package via the package manager
3. Stop the script by pressing any key once the package has been installed
4. (You may now uninstall your package)

Voilà, first step accomplished. Now, look into your capture (Ex.: in \\<Your NAS>\web\SynoCapture\).

1. You should see a folder named “@synopkg\@download\<Package>”. This folder contains the package but without its file extension .spk (Ex.: @SYNOPKG_DOWNLOAD_<Package>).  Gotcha !!!
2. You should also see a folder named “pkginstall”. This one contains the package deflated.
3. Now, a little extra… you should also find a folder name “pkglist.tmp” containing two files: synoserver.enu and : otherserver.enu (with possibly other extensions depending on your DSM language?). Those files contains the URL’s of all SPK available respectively on the official Synology website and on the various SPK servers that you configured in your Package Center > Settings > Package Sources.

If you are running Windows 10 with Powershell, copy the content of those files into on file named input.txt and open a powershell in the folder where you have saved that input.txt file. Execute next this to filter the file and extract the URL’s:

You can copy/paste the content of output.txt into MyJDownloader (asking for a “deep link analysis”!). Magic !

This package is named MODS SPK Tracer and is available on my SPK Server. Obviously, i has been created with my Synology Package Creator tool for Windows 😉

Once installed, upgraded or removed (and obviously reinstalled), you can access its log file either by clicking on its icon in DSM’s Main Menu, or by via the Package Center.

This package comes with shell scripts creating on the fly “installation”, “upgrade” and “uninstallation” wizard (install_uifile.sh, uninstall_uifile.sh, upgrade_uifile.sh). The purpose is to illustrate how to inject environment variables in the JSON wizard and how to use php in such scripts. Briefly said, they must generate a JSON wizard and store it in the standard log file $SYNOPKG_TEMP_LOGFILE

While testing those wizard scripts, I have discovered that, at runtime, only the running script is stored in the temporary folder. The other ones are not available. No way therefore to call another script from the running one.

The Wizards are exporting one variable to the installation scripts, for illustration purpose (I.e.: how to prompt the user for some input to be used later by the scripts)

Finally, the wizard scripts also logs the environment variables exported for them by the DSM. Not a lot are available during the execution of the wizard because the SPK is actually not yet expanded.

The package comes next with the standard installation scripts, calling all a generic script that log the environment variables exported for them by the DSM. So, you can see in which script you have access to which variable. The scripts preinst, postinst, preuninst, postuninst, preupgrade and postupgrade have access to the same variables. But it’s not the case for the start-stop-status script.

Those scripts are also displaying info during the installation/upgrade/uninstallation process for the user. For that purpose, they write in the standard log file $SYNOPKG_TEMP_LOGFILE. Obviously the wizard scripts can’t use this trick to display information to the user. But they don’t need that as they actually display real screens (rendition of their JSON).

Notice: often, variables accessible for a script must be persisted in a file to be retrieved later by another script. Ex.: the postinst script can store a variable received from the install_uifile wizard in a file so it can be read by the postupgrade or postuninst script later.

Notice: the log file is only available in the Package Center if its path is returned by the start-stop-status script.

Notice: the INFO file of this Package is quite standard.

What’s interesting is to see the order of execution. Ex.: for an upgrade

Also, during an upgrade, the script to stop, preuninst and postuninst are the versions of the previous package, not the versions of the new package !!! (Obviously).

During an upgrade, preupgrade and preinst scripts are executed from a temporary folder (/volume1/@tmp/pkginstall/scripts), while postupgrade, postinst, and the script to start, are executed from the target installation directory (/var/packages/<Package Name>/scripts)

Pre-installation

To install it, you will need several other things first :

1. Git, to be installed as explained here.
2. Composer, to be installed as explained here.

Get the sources

Now, open a SSH Console using Putty, log in as an administrator and enter the root mode.

Look for the Git URL of the SSPKS project : https://github.com/jdel/sspks.git

In the SSH console, type the command:

You should see the following output:

complete the source

Run the following command (it’s using the script named “composer” created as illustrated in the How to “install Composer on Synology”):

It should display the following output:

Next, move the complete stuff to your web site and link it with a folder ‘package’ where you will store your spk files. Here, I am using a folder in the web repository.

In a browser, open the test page: http://<your NAS>/sspks/selftest.php

If everything is OK, copy now some spk filez in to the ‘package’ folder (I.e.: in \\<Your_NAS>\web\packages). For each spk file named XXX.spk, add:

• its logo named XXX_thumb_72.png (size 72×72)
• its logo named XXX_thumb_120.png (size 120×120)
• its INFO file named XXX.nfo
  • This one can be extracted from the spk

Finally, open the main page: http://<your NAS>/sspks

Et voilà.

To install Composer, the following extensions must be loaded into php: curl, openssl and phar.

Connect into your DSM, open the Web Station via the Main Menu and enter the PHP Settings. There, select first the “PHP version” = “PHP 5.6”, tick the Extensions: curl, openssl and phar, and click Apply. Next, do the same for the “PHP version” = “PHP 7.0”.

Configuring extensions for php as illustrated above is only valid for the WebStation.

Open a SSH Console via Putty, log in as an administrator and enter next the root mode.

To load extensions into php, their respective php.ini file must be updated manually (Ex.: Edit them from a SSH console using VI). Path to php.ini are:

• php70: /usr/local/etc/php50/php.ini
• php73: /usr/local/etc/php73/cli/php.ini

In php ini, under the section [PHP] add the following lines

extension = phar.so
extension = openssl.so
extension = zip.so

To install Composer, use following commands:

This should display the following message:

On Synology, php is not the command to use to run Composer. Instead, one should use php56 or php70. Ex.:

To make use of it more easily, you can create a script. Use the command vi

Enter the modification mode by typing the letter “i”.

Type the following text:

Press ‘Esc’ to quit the modification mode.

To write the changes and quit vi, type next “:wq” (without the quotes).

Make the script executable with the following command:

Try now:

Et voilà.

NB.:

• The following command can also be used to install ‘composer’ with the ‘php’ command: curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php — –install-dir=/usr/local/bin –filename=composer
• The following command can be used to update ‘composer’ : sudo composer self-update

Enable SSH

Log as admin into your Synology via the DSM web interface. If you don’t know its URL anymore, run the Synology Assistant on your PC (The setup can be found for your model on Synology’s download page) to find your NAS. Right-click on it to connect.

Notice that for illustration purpose, my NAS is named here “Hades” and has 192.168.0.200 as local IP.

Once logged in DSM, open the Control Panel. If you see only three lines of icons (titled File Sharing, Connectivity and System), then click on the blue link “Advanced Mode” in the top-right corner.

You should see a dark “console” icon named Terminal & SNMP in a fourth section named Applications.

Click on that icon and in the tab Terminal appearing now, tick the option Enable SSH service. Configure the Port number that your want to use, E.g. 22, 5022, or any port still free.

Notice the message: only account in the administrators group will be able to log in SSH console. On the opposite, you won’t be able to log in with the root account.

The System default user should be such an administrator account. But you can create another one and add it in the administrators User group. Ex. here after a user named “administrator”:

Also, as recommended, go next into the Security section of the Control Panel and enter the Account tab to tick the option Enable auto block. E.g.: you can block there any IP address which failed 3 times to log in during the last 15′. You can also tick the option Enable block expiration to unblock such IP after e.g. 15 days.

Notice: this “auto block” feature has been very useful for me when I started to use a VPN on my NAS to access internet. Many IP, mainly from Russia and China, have been blocked.

PS.: SSH is recommended over Telnet, as using encrypted communications. But if you really want, you can also enable it.

Install Putty and open a SSH console

Download Putty from here and install it on your PC. It’s an open source SSH and telnet client.

Run Putty and enter an administrator account in the Auto-login username of the category Connection > Data (as illustrated bellow in the right screenshot, I am user the user named “administrator” created previously and member of the User Group “Administrators”). Next enter your Host Name (or IP address) and Port in the Category Session (as illustrated bellow in the left screenshot). Check that the selected Connection Type is SSH.

In order to avoid weird characters to be displayed on the console, when connecting to a linux, you have to also define the following settings (found here):

Terminal > Keyboard > The function Keys and Keypad = Linux

Window > Translation > Remote Character Set = UTF-8

Connection > Data > Tarminal Type String = linux

Finally, select the Default Settings entry and click on the Save button next to it. This is important to keep your setting for the next time you will run Putty.

Now, click on the Open button and the bottom-right. This will start the SSH session with the preconfigured account “administrator”. You just have to type his password.

Notice: on the first use, Putty will display a warning message about the encryption. You have to accept it.

PS.: You can similarly open a Telnet session if you did enable it.

Enter root mode

Although you may not log in as root in a SSH console on your Synology, you may enter “root” mode by typing the following command:

You will be prompted for a password. Type again the password of the administrator account.

Voilà, you are now connected on your NAS as a root.

Enjoy.

PS.: Here is the official Synology documentation to log on your NAS via SSH or Telnet.