man > perlsynology(1)

PERLSYNOLOGY(1)                   Perl Programmers Reference Guide                   PERLSYNOLOGY(1)

NAME
       perlsynology - Perl 5 on Synology DSM systems

DESCRIPTION
       Synology manufactures a vast number of Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices that are very
       popular in large organisations as well as small businesses and homes.

       The NAS systems are equipped with Synology Disk Storage Manager (DSM), which is a trimmed-
       down Linux system enhanced with several tools for managing the NAS. There are several
       flavours of hardware: Marvell Armada (ARMv5tel, ARMv7l), Intel Atom (i686, x86_64), Freescale
       QorIQ (PPC), and more. For a full list see the Synology FAQ <https://kb.synology.com/en-
       global/DSM/tutorial/What_kind_of_CPU_does_my_NAS_have>.

       Since it is based on Linux, the NAS can run many popular Linux software packages, including
       Perl. In fact, Synology provides a ready-to-install package for Perl, depending on the
       version of DSM the installed perl ranges from 5.8.6 on DSM-4.3 to 5.28.1 on DSM-7.1.

       There is an active user community that provides many software packages for the Synology DSM
       systems; at the time of writing this document they provide Perl version 5.28.1.

       This document describes various features of Synology DSM operating system that will affect
       how Perl 5 (hereafter just Perl) is configured, compiled and/or runs. It has been compiled
       and verified by Johan Vromans for the Synology DS413 (QorIQ), with feedback from H.Merijn
       Brand (DS213: ARMv5tel, RS815: Intel Atom x64, and DS218+: Celeron J3355).

   Setting up the build environment
       DSM 7

       For a comfortable development environment, Entware is currently the only viable solution.
       Just follow the detailed instructions on Install Entware on Synology NAS
       <https://github.com/Entware/Entware/wiki/Install-on-Synology-NAS>.  supported architectures
       are armv5, armv7, mipsel, wl500g, x86_32, and x86_64.  Check here
       <https://pkg.entware.net/binaries/> for supported platforms.

       That github link also shows what environments should be supported.

       It was tested on DSM-7.1 by H.Merijn Brand on a DS218+ and a DS220+ (both Intel x64).

       Entware comes with a precompiled 5.26.1 (Jan 2018) that allowes building shared XS code. Note
       that this installation does not use a site_perl folder. The available "cpan" works. If all
       required development packages are installed too, also for XS.

       Installing perl from the Community package center:

       •   Using your favourite browser open the DSM management page and start the Package Center.

       •   In Settings, add the following Package Sources:

             Name:     Community
             Location: https://synopackage.com/repository/spk/All

       •   Still in Settings, in Channel Update, select Beta Channel.

       To complete the development environment, install make and gcc

        ds220# opkg install make gcc

       Then, optionally, make sure you use the more recent bash and gawk.

        ds220# opkg install bash gawk
        ds220# cd /usr/bin
        ds220# mv bash bash.syno
        ds220# ln -s /opt/bin/bash .

       In order to have Configure find the required libraries

        ds220# cd /opt/lib
        ds220# ln -s libcrypt.so.?       libcrypt.so
        ds220# ln -s libdl.so.?          libdl.so
        ds220# ln -s libgdbm.so.?        libgdbm.so
        ds220# ln -s libgdbm_compat.so.? libgdbm_compat.so
        ds220# ln -s libm.so.?           libm.so
        ds220# ln -s libpthread.so.?     libpthread.so
        ds220# ln -s libutil.so.?        libutil.so

       DSM 6

       Using  iPkg  has  been  deprecated  on  DSM  6,  but  an  alternative is available for DSM 6:
       entware/opkg. For instructions on how to use that, please read Install Entware-ng on Synology
       NAS <https://github.com/Entware-ng/Entware-ng/wiki/Install-on-Synology-NAS>

       That sadly  does  not  (yet)  work  on  QorIQ.  At  the  moment  of  writing,  the  supported
       architectures   are   armv5,   armv7,   mipsel,  wl500g,  x86_32,  and  x86_64.   Check  here
       <https://pkg.entware.net/binaries/> for supported platforms.

       Entware-ng comes with a precompiled 5.24.1 (June 2017) that allowes building shared XS  code.
       Note  that  this installation does not use a site_perl folder. The available "cpan" works. If
       all required development packages are installed too, also for XS.

       DSM 5

       As DSM is a trimmed-down Linux system, it lacks many of  the  tools  and  libraries  commonly
       found  on  Linux.  The  basic  tools  like  sh,  cp,  rm,  etc. are implemented using BusyBox
       <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BusyBox>.

       •   Using your favourite browser open the DSM management page and start the Package Center.

       •   If you want to smoke test Perl, install "Perl".

       •   In Settings, add the following Package Sources:

             https://www.cphub.net
             http://packages.quadrat4.de

           As these two are both discontinued, it is unlikely you will be able to  set  up  a  build
           environment on DSM 5.

       •   Still in Settings, in Channel Update, select Beta Channel.

       •   Press  Refresh.  In  the  left  panel the item "Community" will appear.  Click it. Select
           "Bootstrap Installer Beta" and install it.

       •   Likewise, install "iPKGui Beta".

           The application window should now show an icon for iPKGui.

       •   Start iPKGui. Install the packages "make", "gcc" and "coreutils".

           If you want to smoke test Perl, install "patch".

       The next step is to add some symlinks to  system  libraries.  For  example,  the  development
       software  expect a library "libm.so" that normally is a symlink to "libm.so.6". Synology only
       provides the latter and not the symlink.

       Here the actual architecture of the Synology system matters. You have to find out  where  the
       gcc  libraries  have  been installed. Look in /opt for a directory similar to arm-none-linux-
       gnueab or powerpc-linux-gnuspe. In the instructions below I'll use powerpc-linux-gnuspe as an
       example.

       •   On the DSM management page start the Control Panel.

       •   Click Terminal, and enable SSH service.

       •   Close Terminal and the Control Panel.

       •   Open a shell on the Synology using ssh and become root.

       •   Execute the following commands:

             cd /lib
             ln -s libm.so.6 libm.so
             ln -s libcrypt.so.1 libcrypt.so
             ln -s libdl.so.2 libdl.so
             cd /opt/powerpc-linux-gnuspe/lib  (or
                                               /opt/arm-none-linux-gnueabi/lib)
             ln -s /lib/libdl.so.2 libdl.so

       WARNING: When you perform a system software upgrade, these links will disappear and  need  to
       be re-established.

   Compiling Perl 5
       When the build environment has been set up, building and testing Perl is straightforward. The
       only  thing  you  need  to  do  is download the sources as usual, and add a file Policy.sh as
       follows:

         # Administrivia.
         perladmin="your.email AT goes.here"

         # Install Perl in a tree in /opt/perl instead of /opt/bin.
         prefix=/opt/perl

         # Select the compiler. Note that there is no 'cc' alias or link
         # on older DSM versions
         cc=gcc
         awk=/opt/bin/gawk

         # Build flags. Optional
         ccflags="-DDEBUGGING"

         # Library and include paths.
         locincpth="/opt/include"
         loclibpth="/opt/lib /usr/local/lib /usr/lib"
         libpth="/opt/lib /usr/local/lib /usr/lib"

       You may want to create the destination directory and give it  the  right  permissions  before
       installing, thus eliminating the need to build Perl as a super user.

       In the directory where you unpacked the sources, issue the familiar commands:

         $ bash ./Configure -Dusedevel -Duseshrplib -Duse64bitall -des
         $ make -j2
         $ env TEST_JOBS=2 make test_harness
         $ make install

   Known problems
       Configure

       The  GNU  C-compiler  might  spit out unexpected stuff under -v, which causes the analysis of
       cppsymbols to fail because of unmatched quotes.

       You'll note if config.sh fails with a syntax error.

       Build

       Error message "No error definitions found".
           This error is generated when it is not possible to find the local definitions  for  error
           codes, due to the uncommon structure of the Synology file system.

           This   error   was   fixed   in  the  Perl  development  git  for  version  5.19,  commit
           7a8f1212e5482613c8a5b0402528e3105b26ff24.

       Failing tests

       ext/DynaLoader/t/DynaLoader.t
           One subtest fails due to the uncommon structure of the Synology  file  system.  The  file
           /lib/glibc.so is missing.

           WARNING:  Do  not symlink /lib/glibc.so.6 to /lib/glibc.so or some system components will
           start to fail.

   Smoke testing Perl
       If building completes successfully, you  can  set  up  smoke  testing  as  described  in  the
       Test::Smoke documentation.

       For  smoke  testing  you  need  a  running Perl. You can either install the Synology supplied
       package for Perl 5.8.6, or build and install your own, much more recent version.

       Note that I could not run successful smokes when initiated by the Synology Task Scheduler.  I
       resorted to initiating the smokes via a cron job run on another system, using ssh:

         ssh nas1 wrk/Test-Smoke/smoke/smokecurrent.sh

       Local patches

       When local patches are applied with smoke testing, the test driver will automatically request
       regeneration  of  certain  tables  after  the patches are applied. The Synology supplied Perl
       5.8.6 (at least on the DS413) is NOT capable of generating these  tables.  It  will  generate
       opcodes with bogus values, causing the build to fail.

       You can prevent regeneration by adding the setting

         'flags' => 0,

       to the smoke config, or by adding another patch that inserts

         exit 0 if $] == 5.008006;

       in the beginning of the "regen.pl" program.

   Adding libraries
       The  above  procedure describes a basic environment and hence results in a basic Perl. If you
       want to add additional libraries to Perl, you may need some extra settings.

       For example, the basic Perl does not have any of the DB libraries (db, dbm, ndbm, gdsm).  You
       can  add these using iPKGui, however, you need to set environment variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH to
       the appropriate value:

         LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/lib:/opt/lib
         export LD_LIBRARY_PATH

       This setting needs to be in effect while Perl is built, but also when the programs are run.

REVISION
       July 2022, for DSM 5.1.5022 and DSM 6.1-15101-4, and DSM-7.1-42661-3.

AUTHOR
       Johan Vromans <jvromans AT squirrel.nl> H. Merijn Brand <cpan AT tux.nl>

perl v5.38.2                                 2026-06-12                              PERLSYNOLOGY(1)