[Request] Support RT1900ac Router (SRM: Synology Router Manager)

[jlmkerr]

The newly released Synology router (RT1900ac) running Synology Router Manager OS (SRM) supports additional packages in the same way that DSM does.

The packages that are available can be found on Synology's servers and appear to be built for the Broadcom Northstar Plus SoC (see http://global.download.synology.com/download/spk/MediaServer/1.4-2642/MediaServer-northstarplus-1.4-2642.spk).

Would it be possible to support the new router and chipset?

Want to back this issue? Post a bounty on it! We accept bounties via Bountysource.

[Dr-Bean]

That depends. You can ask Synology if they plan to publish the toolchain for that arch, because we can't build packages without that. Also, we need confirmation that packages built for DSM are compatible with SRM, or documentation describing the differences.

[jlmkerr]

Here is what i managed to get. Is this enough?

Hi James,

Thank you for contacting Synology Support.

Our HQ have uploaded the GPL Source, Toolkit and toolchain of the router to our SourceForge project page. Here are the links for your reference.

GPL Source http://sourceforge.net/projects/dsgpl/files/Synology%20Router%20GPL%20Source/

GPL Toolkit http://sourceforge.net/projects/dsgpl/files/toolkit/northstarplus/

GPL Toolchain http://sourceforge.net/projects/dsgpl/files/SRM%201.0%20Tool%20Chains/ Please bear in mind toolchains are not always immediately available for our latest software you may need to wait for them to be released.

We currently do not have any documentation describing the differences between the two. I can confirm that not all packages built for DSM are compatible with SRM however.

I will contact our HQ and see if any documentation is on the way.

Best regards,

Technical Support Team

[Dr-Bean]

Well, from perspective of compatibility, this sentence is the most interesting:

I can confirm that not all packages built for DSM are compatible with SRM however.

I figured as much, looking at the available packages from Synology. Apart from integrating the toolchain/source, we need to know exactly which differences, and then we'll have to see if/how we can integrate that into spksrc, because that was written for DSM, not SRM. I think we'll have to hold off at least until documentation is available. Also, access to the device itself would make things a lot easier for someone willing to put the work in it.

[piwi82]

The small number of packages available for the RT1900ac is due to hardware limitations (2C@1.0GHz, 256MB) rather than compatibility. For now, only DNS Server, Download Station, Media Server, Radius Server, and VPN Server packages are available.

The priority of this router is to deliver the best network performances as possible. Then it can provide some extra services (like Download Station and Media Server) but not a large number of various applications that could slow it down.

I think all SynoCommunity packages could be built for the northstarplus architecture, but I don't think it is a good idea to provide all of them. Maybe adding "WARNING : THIS PACKAGE COULD SLOW DOWN YOUR RT1900ac ROUTER." at the top of all northstarplus packages description could help ?

[Dr-Bean]

I thought it would be more complex than CPU and RAM limitations, but maybe not. So there's still a volumeX to put data on, and we can generally expect that our installers work without changes?

As for not providing all packages: There are limitations due to dependencies (no MariaDB, Perl, or Pear for example). Do you know if there's WebStation(-equivalent) available/built-in? Other than that, how would you determine when to not provide a particular package? A warning is probably a good idea, but that's not going to keep people from asking why package "X" isn't available, but package "Y" is ;)

[piwi82]

I will take a look at the RT1900ac's firmware to check if WebStation is present (I think it si not). The package DownloadStation-northstarplus-3.5-2968.spk is built the same way other packages are built (INFO, scripts, package.tgz, ...).

The warning message is to be used if SynoCommunity compiles all packages for northstarplus architecture. Users will get a message in the Package Center when installing packages having dependencies with non-existant official packages : "Install MariaDB first blahblahblah...".

SynoCommunity could display the following message in the package description : "ERROR : THIS PACKAGE HAS DEPENDENCIES TO OFFICIAL PACKAGES THAT DOESN'T YET EXISTS ({packageList}). THE INSTALLATION WILL FAIL." (Excuse my french-frog-style english :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: )

[jlmkerr]

There has been some unofficial progress on this with some Synocommunity packages being released for the Synology RT1900AC SRM here:

https://synopackages.wordpress.com/2016/02/21/synocommunity-packages-for-rsm/

It would be awesome if this could be integrated into SynoCommunity.

[piwi82]

It would be awesome if the author of these packages contributes to SynoCommunity rather than working in his cave :confused:

[ymartin59]

Updates: https://synopackages.wordpress.com/2017/04/23/synocommunity-packages-for-srm-1-1/

[ymartin59]

Toolchain is now available but repository cannot be used to deliver binary packages yet. As tracked in https://github.com/SynoCommunity/spkrepo/issues/13 I decide to close this old request.