Preamble for OptWare

The OptWare package system was originally created to accompany the Unslung firmware for the NSLU2 (originally the packages were also called Unslung packages). It has since been expanded to cover a variety of other platforms, however much of the documentation hasn't been updated so you may still see references to Unslung and the NSLU2 when the information also applies to other platforms.

Preamble for Unslung

If you are using Unslung, before attempting to run ipkg, install or use a package, or update the list of packages, make sure that you have installed a hard drive or memory stick and "unslung" to it. Failure to do so may fill your NSLU2's internal Flash RAM with too much data and not allow it to reboot. To recover, follow the Recover From A Bad Flash process.

What are Packages?

In general, packages are commonly-available software programs that we have simply ported to the NSLU2. The effort to do this work is provided by the volunteer NSLU2 Linux community.

If you have a question on how to use a particular package, please use Google or something to search for the general documentation about the package before asking questions that are not specific to the NSLU2 port of the package. For example, Google "man tar" for information on how to use the "tar" application.

When using Unslung, look under /opt for the corresponding files for a particular package.

First Steps

1. Make sure you've unslung to an external hard drive or USB memory stick.
2. Make sure you have setup a gateway and a DNS server for the NSLU2 under Administration/LAN/.
3. ipkg update
4. ipkg install unslung-feeds
5. ipkg update

If you're having problems at this stage connecting with ipkg, see this troubleshooting FAQ.

How To Use ipkg

You can update your ipkg database on the slug with ipkg update and ensure you have the latest (and greatest?) versions with ipkg upgrade. (Use this from the telnet console. With openssh your upgrade process gets terminated when openssh is upgraded.)

To check out a list of available packages, use ipkg list.

To see the packages you already have installed, use ipkg status.

To install a new package, use ipkg install <package name>.

The complete package list is also browsable here.

The package format is compatible between the all versions of the Unslung firmware. Some packages have also been ported to the Asus WL-series of wireless routers.

Package Sources and Locations

The Unslung package repository can be found at http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/unslung

To find ipkgs that have already been made : http://ipkgfind.nslu2-linux.org

Cross-complied package descriptions are at http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/unslung/cross/Packages Natively compiled package descriptions are at http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/unslung/native/Packages

These packages require you to be running the Unslung firmware.

Mirrors

nslu2-linux, US (main)

OSUOSL, US

Can't Find A Package You Want?

If there is a package you would like that is not part of unslung already, you have two options: You can contribute it yourself (to learn more, see AddAPackageToOptware). Or you can add it to the PackageWishList and hope that someone else provides it.

Found A Bug?

If you find any problems with the packages, please report them to the nslu2-linux mailinglist.

Please search the wiki to see if your problem is a known problem with a workaround.

In the chance that the problem might be fixed with the help of the package maintainer, come to the IRC channel and politely ask for help. You can also Browse the IRC Logs.

The easiest way to find a maintainer is to look at the cvs log - "cvs log make/foo.mk" - for package foo. This will tell you who originally checked in the package and who has modified it since. The usernames in the cvs log are @users.sourceforge.net addresses.

Specific Package Details

More details are available for the following packages:

• Apache - Popular heavyweight web server
• appWeb - Embedded Web Server
• Asterisk - Open Source VoIP PBX System
• atop - is an interactive monitor for Linux-systems to view the load on system-level and process-level.
• amule - eMule-like client for the eD2k and Kademlia networks
• BarracudaDrive - Embedded Application Server
• Bash - Bourne Again SHell
• BitTorrent - mainline python BT client packaged as py-bittorrent (launch by btdownloadcurses.py)
• Btpd - lightweight command line torrent daemon+client
• BusyBox
• calculators - bc, calc, nickle
• castget - a command-line podcast downloader
• ccollect - pseudo) incremental (parallel) backup
• ccxstream - Media streaming server for Xbox Media Center
• cherokee - Flexible and Fast Web server.
• clutch - Bittorrent GUI based on transmission, originally a Mac application.
• cpio - CoPy In/Out file archiver
• crosstool-native - Bootstrap toolchain including GCC 3.3.5, Glibc 2.2.5, Binutils 2.15.94.0.2, and Linux 2.4.22 headers.
• CTorrent - BitTorrent client written in the C programming language.
• CUPS - CUPS printer system.
• diffutils - GNU Diffutils
• digitemp - temperatur logger software
• distcc - Distributed C/C++ compiler
• DnsMasq - DNS and DHCP server
• dovecot - Dovecot is an open source IMAP and POP3 server for Linux/UNIX-like systems
• dstat - dstat is a versatile replacement for vmstat, iostat, netstat, nfsstat, and ifstat
• Enhanced CTorrent - command line client for BitTorrent
• emacs22 - OS^h^hEditor, see also jed, joe, jove, mg, qemacs, uemacs, zile
• erlang - concurrency oriented language and runtime
• extract-xiso - XBOX iso creation/extraction tool
• findutils - File find utility
• FreeRadius - An opensource Radius server
• git - distributed version control tool
• gphoto2 - Command line digital camera software applications
• gnokii - a multisystem tool suite and modem driver for the mobile phones (including smsd)
• Haserl - a small program that uses shell or Lua script to create cgi web scripts.
• ipcalc, sipcalc - IP address and subnet calculation tool
• HPLIP - A HP Printers and scanners set of drivers and tools
• ipkg-web - A web frontend for ipkg
• irssi - console IRC client
• less - Less is more file pager, see also most
• kissdx - a versatile PC-Link clone for KiSS media players
• libbt C BitTorrent library with sample downloader.
• lighttpd - lightweight web server.
• logrotate - Used to compress and rotate log messages
• m4 - GNU macro preprocessor
• make - GNU make tool
• Mailx - Mail client (formerly nail)
• mc - Midnight Commander File manager
• MediaWiki - The Wiki software used to run Wikipedia
• memtester - A runtime memtest utility
• mercurial - packaged as py-mercurial, fast distributed version control tool.
• mimms - MMS:// stream ripper
• mldonkey - multi-network peer-to-peer, availabe on unslung
• Mt-daapd - iTunes Server
• mutt - text mode mail client
• MySQL - The most popular Open Source SQL Database
• nagios-plugins - Plugins for the nagios network monitor program
• Nail - Mail client
• Nano - Pico like Editor
• NanoBlogger - a small weblog engine written in Bash for the command line
• nbench-byte - BYTE's Native Mode Benchmarks
• ncFTP - A user friendly FTP client with background spooling.
• net-snmp - The opensource implementation of snmp
• Nethack - Greatest RPG of all time
• netio - A cross platform network benchmark tool for tcp and udp.
• nrpe - Nagios remote program execute daemon
• Nfs-utils - The recommended NFS server
• nginx - small web server and reverse proxy
• ntfsprogs - NTFS filesystem libraries and utilities
• Ntpclient - Network Time Protocol client
• OpenSSH - the recommended SSH server
• patch - GNU patch
• phoneme advanced - java j2me CDC JVM from Sun
• phpMyAdmin - Web-based administration for MySQL
• postgresql - A highly-scalable, SQL compliant, open source object-relational database management system
• proftpd - Highly configurable and feature packed FTP server
• python - An interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming language
• qemu - An processor emulator - allows running i386 binaries on the slug
• rtorrent - bittorent client, runs well on Slugosbe, has some problem on unslung
• samba - Samba 3.0.14a-4 on Unslung 4.2x beta
• samba2 - Samba 2.2.12
• scponly - Allows users to access the slug with SCP, but not with SSH
• GNU screen - console screen manager
• ser - SIP Express Router
• slrn - console nntp news reader
• slsc - console spreadsheet
• Smalltalk - squeak, gnu-smalltalk, littlesmalltalk, or syx
• sudo - Run commands as root
• svn - Subversion version control system
• Syslog-ng - replacement for the standard syslog utility with remote logging capability
• tar - Heavyweight version of the tape archiver
• tftp-hpa - A simple tftp package
• tin - console news reader
• torrent - Torrent processing scripts for libbt
• TorrentFlux - a web-based torrent manager
• Transmission - Lightweight BitTorrent client and daemon with WWW interface
• unfs3 - User-space NFS V3 server (not recommended - use nfs-utils instead)
• upslug2 - The upslug2 package to update a other slug.
• ushare - Free open source uPnP media server.
• vblade - A program that makes a seekable file available over AoE.
• vim - Vi iMproved, see also nvi
• vsftpd - Fast and secure FTP server
• webalizer - server stats program.
• wiki - mediawiki, dukuwiki, yawk, moinmoin, trac
• X11 - X Windows for your slug. No display hardware in the NSLU2 so it's remote access only.
• xinetd - Highly configurable and secure inetd replacement
• xmail - An easy(ish) to use mail server
• yawk - A wiki.cgi script written in gawk
• zip - a compression and file packaging utility

Todo: please add details of other packages

NOTE: The complete package list is available at http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/nslu2/.