alarm-helios4-image-builder

This Bash script creates an ArchLinux ARM image for the Helios4 NAS ready to be written on microSD card.

Helios4 is an powerful Open Source and Open Hardware Network Attached Storage (NAS) made by Kobol Innovations Pte. Ltd. It harnesses its processing capabilities from the ARMADA 38x-MicroSoM from SolidRun.

The resulting image file is based on the generic Arch Linux ARMv7 root filesystem and contains:

• a Linux kernel specifically patched for Helios4
• the udev rules for hardware monitoring
• the configuration file for fancontrol
• the mdadm-fault-led.sh script to report mdadm error events using the Red Fault LED (LED2)
• the Wake-on-LAN systemd service to enable the PHY to raise an interrupt when magic packet is received

Requirements

This script expects to be run on a x86 system running ArchLinux. It needs qemu-arm-static to work. You can install it using the qemu-user-static or qemu-user-static-bin packages from the AUR.

Usage

Note: this script needs to execute commands as superuser. If not run as root, it will re-run itself using sudo. It is highly recommended to review this script and understand what it does before running it on your system.

$ git clone https://github.com/gbcreation/alarm-helios4-image-builder.git
$ cd alarm-helios4-image-builder
$ sh ./build-archlinux-img-for-helios4.sh

Once the image file is created, write it to a microSD card using Etcher or the dd command:

$ dd bs=4M if=ArchLinuxARM-helios4-2019-02-24.img of=/dev/sdX conv=fsync

Insert the microSD card to the Helios4 and enjoy Arch Linux ARM on your NAS.

Are there prebuilt images ready to use?

Look at Releases.

Known bugs

• LEDs do not light up on disk access (fixed since version 2019-02-27)

What does this script do?

Here are all the steps performed by the script:

• Check if the qemu-arm-static executable is installed (see Requirements above).
• Check if script is run as root. Re-run itself using sudo if not.
• Check if the following packages are installed (automatically install them if not):
  • arch-install-scripts: use arch-chroot to enter to the created chroot
  • arm-none-eabi-gcc: ARM cross compiler used to compile the U-Boot bootloader
  • uboot-tools: use mkimage to compile the U-Boot script
• Download the root ArchLinux ARM filesystem / patches / Linux packages for Helios4 :
  • ArchLinuxARM-armv7-latest.tar.gz: the generic ArchLinux ARMv7 root filesystem
  • 90-helios4-hwmon.rules: udev rules for hardware monitoring
  • fancontrol_pwm-fan-mvebu-next.conf: configuration file for fancontrol
  • mdadm-fault-led.sh: Bash script used by mdadm to report error events using the Red Fault LED (LED2)
  • helios4-wol.service: Systemd service to enable the PHY to raise an interrupt when magic packat is received on eth0
  • latest linux-helios package: Linux kernel specifically patched for Helios4
• Create a new image file on disk. Change the ÌMG_FILE variable in script to set the image filename.
• Create a new partition in the image file using fdisk.
• Mount the image file as a loop device using losetup, forcing the kernel to scan the partition table to detect the partition inside.
• Format the partition as ext4.
• Mount the formatted partition to the ./img/ sub-directory. Change the MOUNT_DIR variable in script to set the target directory.
• Extract ArchLinuxARM-armv7-latest.tar.gz to ./img/.
• Copy 90-helios4-hwmon.rules to ./img/etc/udev/rules.d. Patch it to replace the armada_thermal device name by f10e4078.thermal.
• Copy the Helios4 Linux package to ./img/root.
• Copy helios4-wol.service to ./img/usr/lib/systemd/system/.
• Copy qemu-arm-static to ./img/usr/bin.
• Register qemu-arm-static as ARM interpreter in the host kernel
• Use arch-chroot to enter to the ./img/ chroot, then:
  • initialize the Pacman keyring
  • populate the Arch Linux ARM package signing keys
  • upgrade the Arch Linux ARM system
  • install the Helios4 Linux kernel
  • install lm_sensors and ethtool packages
  • enable the fancontrol service to start on boot
  • enable the Helios4 Wake-on-LAN service to start on boot
• Remove the Helios4 Linux package from ./img/root.
• Remove qemu-arm-static from ./img/usr/bin.
• Copy the fancontrol configuration file fancontrol_pwm-fan-mvebu-next.conf to ./img/etc/fancontrol.
• Make the lm75 kernel module loaded on boot by creating ./img/etc/modules-load.d/lm75.conf.
• Copy mdadm-fault-led.sh to ./img/usr/bin and set the PROGRAM directive to /usr/sbin/mdadm-fault-led.sh in ./img/etc/mdadm.conf.
• Create the U-Boot script ./img/boot/boot.cmd.
• Use mkimage to compile ./img/boot/boot.cmd to ./img/boot/boot.scr.
• Unmount the image file partition.
• Clone the helios-4/u-boot Git repository and compile the U-Boot bootloader.
• Copy the compiled u-boot bootloader to the loop device.
• Unmount the loop device

About loop devices and mounted partitions

If the script stops due to errors, the image file can still be mounted as a loop device, and its partition mounted to the ./img/ sub-directory. Before running the script again, ensure that the ./img is unmounted:

$ sudo umount ./img

Check also if the image file is still mounted as a loop device:

$ sudo losetup -a

If so, umount it:

$ sudo losetup -d /dev/loopX

Thanks

Thanks to:

• the Kobol Team for this great piece of Open Hardware that is Helios4 NAS
• Aditya from the Kobol Team for his valuable help on explaining various patches and configuration files
• Summers from the Arch Linux ARM forum for his precious advices and encouraging responses

License

MIT. Copyright (c) Gontran Baerts