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Documentation for developers

Currently, it's TBD. Look at examples in config/ - more detailed docs will come soon.

The loader generator has facilities for creating new platforms by automatically repacking vmlinux into zimages. You do it by initializing all submodules and running something along the lines of:

# 1. download kernel source from SF & unpack
# 2. synoconfigs/apollolake
# 3. run:
BRP_DEBUG=1 \
BRP_LINUX_PATCH_METHOD=repack \
BRP_BUILD_DIR=$PWD/build/testing \
BRP_LINUX_SRC=$PWD/linux-3.10.x \
./build-loader.sh 'DS3615xs' '6.2.4-25556'

Platform config file format

A "template" config file for a new platform/OS will look something like below. See explanation of values below the JSON template.

{
  "os": {
    "id": "<...>",
    "pat_url": "https://global.download.synology.com/....",
    "sha256": "<...>"
  },

  "files": {
    "zlinux": {
      "name": "zImage",
      "sha256": "<...>"
    },
    "ramdisk": {
      "name": "rd.gz",
      "sha256": "<...>"
    },
    "vmlinux": {
      "sha256": "<...>"
    }
  },

  "patches": {
    "zlinux": [ "file1.bsp" ],
    "ramdisk": [ "file2.patch" ]
  },

  "synoinfo": {
    "key": "value",
    "removekey": ""
  },

  "grub": {
    "template": "@@@COMMON@@@/grub-template.conf",
    "base_cmdline": {
      "sn": "124",
      "root": "/dev/md0"
    },

    "menu_entries": {
      "RedPill DSxxx v0.0-123456 (USB, Verbose)": {
        "options": [
          "savedefault",
          "linux /zImage @@@CMDLINE@@@"
        ],
        "cmdline": {
          "earlyprintk": null,
          "loglevel": 15
        }
      }
    }
  },

  "extra": {
    "compress_rd": false,
    "ramdisk_copy": {
      "redpill-linux-v4.4.180+.ko": "usr/lib/modules/rp.ko"
    },
    "bootp1_copy": {
      "@@@PAT@@@/GRUB_VER": "GRUB_VER"
    },
    "bootp2_copy": {
      "EFI": "EFI"
    }
  }
}
  • os contains all things dealing with DSM PAT files
    • id contains a unique platform-install id (e.g. ds3615xs_25556 for DS3615xs and OS build 25556)
    • pat_url is a publicly accessible URL to download PAT file, it's preferred to be from global.downlaod.synology.com
    • sha256 is the SHA-256 sum of the downloaded file used for verification
  • files section contains logically designated files used during the boot process; keys are statically defined
    • zlinux is the compressed Linux image
      • name contains name of the file in the unpacked PAT
      • sha256 contains SHA-256 checksum of unmodified file
    • ramdisk is the original compressed ramdisk image
      • name contains name of the file in the unpacked PAT
      • sha256 contains SHA-256 checksum of unmodified file
    • vmlinux is the unpacked zlinux image
      • As the file doesn't exist in the PAT directly there's no name specified
      • It is only used when repack method is used to build the kernel
      • sha256 is the expected checksum of unpacked file before any modifications
  • patches is the main section for any patches applied anywhere
    • zlinux contains an array of patch files (in .bsp / bspatch(1) binary format) to be applied to files.zlinux.name file before copying it to the boot disk; see "File Paths" section below
    • ramdisk contains an array of patch files (in .patch / patch(1) text format) to be applied to a directory containing files unpacked from files.ramdisk.name; see "File Paths" section below
  • synoinfo contains a list of key=>value pairs to change in the synoinfo configuration
    • Changes are made directly to the /etc/synoinfo.conf and /etc.defaults/synoinfo.conf in the ramdisk image
    • Dynamic patches are generated to make the same changes the main OS partition's files in /etc/synoinfo.conf and /etc.defaults/synoinfo.conf just before its booted
    • Values specified in the platform config (files under config/) can be overridden by the user config
    • You can specify "key": "value" pairs to add/change value under key to "value" in configs, or use "key2": null to remove value under key2 key.
  • grub section contains everything to do with the new GRUB bootloader
    • template is a file for grub configuration file (see "File Paths" section below) used to generate the final file. It should contain @@@MENU_ENTRIES@@@ token where newly generated menu entries are pasted.
    • base_cmdline is a list of key=>value pairs which will be placed in the cmdline of every single menu entry. This is done to avoid copying the same platform-dependent options for every menu entry.
    • menu_entries contains a list of menu entries in GRUB; each entry is a separate object containing the following keys:
      • options is an array of strings exactly how you would put them in a GRUB 2 menu entry. It is only scanned for the @@@CMDLINE@@@ variable which contains an assembled Linux cmdline key=>value pairs combining values from grub.base_cmdline and cmdline in the given entry (see below)
      • cmdline is a list of key=>value pairs merged with grub.base_cmdline to create the @@@CMDLINE@@@ variable mentioned above. You can specify "key": "value" to get key=value in the kernel cmdline, or use "key2": null to define a value-less parameter (e.g. param1=val1 key2 param2=val2)
  • extra is a catch-all bag for everything which doesn't fit above ;)
    • compress_rd specified if ramdisk image should be compressed or should be left as a flat CPIO archive. In general, you always want the compressed one. However, some kernels have a syno-broken decompression routines and require a flat CPIO instead. To keep the consistency the ramdisk file will always be called rd.gz (regardless of the compression type or lack thereof)
    • ramdisk_copy is a list of key=>value pairs containing source=>destination definitions of files/folders copied to the ramdisk. Don't go overboard here! Kernel has a hard-crash-limit for it. See "File Paths" section below for supported variables.
    • part1_copy and part2_copy are lists of key=>value pairs containing source=>destination definitions of files/folder copied to first/second partition of the bootloader image. See "File Paths" section below for supported variables.
    • All file/directory copy operations are performed using cp -rL so that you can specify sources with symlinks which will be resolved on copy time.

File Paths

The following platform places in the platform configuration file support special variables:

  • patches.ramdisk (the zlinux one doesn't support it as it doesn't make sense to share anything)
  • grub.template
  • extra.ramdisk_copy
  • extra.bootp1_copy
  • extra.bootp2_copy

In those places you can use some shortcut variables to grab files from some predetermined locations, avoiding symlink:

  • @@@PAT@@@ points to a directory where PAT file was unpacked
  • @@@COMMON@@@ points to <repo-root>/config/_common
  • @@@EXT@@@ points to <repo-root>/ext

Specifying a path with no variable implies that the path lookup will start at the same place where the config is located (which is in fact a variable @@@_DEF_@@@ but it's an implementation detail and should NOT be used). We decided against magical "path lookup order" logic and used variables as to not make the config opaque. When someone sees @@@PAT@@@ they will either search in the repo for what that means (finding this explanation). Putting just the patch and searching in order within multiple places can (and will) cause confusion and hard to debug scenarios.