I built my own 3rd Party Synology Package Repository

[DaveR]

As I now have 4 Synology packages I decided I needed a package repository that users can add to Package Center.

How to add the Synology Package Source to Package Center​

1. Open Package Center and click on Settings.
2. Click on Package Sources.
3. Click Add.
4. Enter 007revad as the Name.
5. Enter https://spkrepo.007daver.workers.dev/ as the Location.
6. Click OK then OK.
7. You'll then see the available packages when you click Community on the left.

Name:

007revad

Location:

https://spkrepo.007daver.workers.dev/

Synology Package Source packages in the Community section of Package Center​

Package Center even shows the download count



I intend updating it so other creators of Synology packages can get their packages listed to make it easier for users to install and update those packages.

 

[Benares]

Just added your Package Source, it works, thanks.
But I stopped your Speedtest-Packages for now. They (or one of them) seem to disturb Disk-Hibernation even when I don't use them. Is this possible? May be it's better to install them on a NVME-Volume.

 

[luddi]

@DaveR Very nice! Appreciate it

 

[DaveR]

@Benares
Can you run them one a time to work out which speedtest package, or packages, wake your HDDs?

 

[DaveR]

@Tommes
Where did you get the file layout for your package source? Is it a common layout that other 3rd party packages often use?
I notice it has INFO.conf which is just a conf file in the repo's root.

My package repos use a workflow to build the spk files when I create a new release. The workflow uses https://github.com/007revad/synology-package-builder which builds the INFO file from package.json (which obviously is a json file )


To add someone's package to my spk repository I'd just need:

1. GitHub username.
2. Repo name.
3. PACKAGE-ICON.PNG location.
4. INFO location and type (conf or json).

For point 3 it would be better if they had a 120×120 PNG thumbnail named <Package-Id>_120.png where <Package-Id> is packagename from INFO.

I see that I'd need to add support for for different language packagenames.

Ideally you may also want to add a workflow that notifies my spk repository when you create a new release. Though my spk repository does check at 2am each day for any new spk files on repos that it monitors so adding a workflow is optional.

I have enough information to add your package to my spk repository, so you can relax and wait for it to happen

 

[luddi]

The update notification is available directly from the package center. Very nice! Good job @DaveR

 

[DaveR]

It's alive!



Looking at the download count for LogAnalysis and Syno Smart Info makes me little sad for my packages.

• LogAnalysis Download count: 1,486
• Syno Smart Info Download count: 1,838

 

[luddi]

You don't need to be sad about it. You made it possible to provide a repository. Therefore, you can be proud of it.

 

[Tommes]

Hi!
First of all, I'm thrilled with what you've put together. I just wanted to thank you for adding my packages to your SPK repository. It's absolutely fantastic.

Where did you get the file layout for your package source?

I use the Synology Toolkit to manage and convert packages into SPKs. The Synology Developer Guide provides information on the directory structure that should be followed. However, I don't adhere to all the guidelines.

Looking at the download count for LogAnalysis

Where does this data come from? Is there any way I can display it in my GitHub repository? The original counters stopped working at some point and, so far, I’ve been too lazy to look for alternatives.

 

[DaveR]

Thank you.

You'll like this then. You can see how many downloads each release has had, and the total of all downloads.
https://hanadigital.github.io/grev/?user=toafez&repo=LogAnalysis
https://hanadigital.github.io/grev/?user=toafez&repo=AutoPilot

The data comes from the GitHub API. But it only returns 100 at a time so you need a loop to get all of them, and add them all up for the total.

Shields has a button that shows the total downloads. https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/toafez/LogAnalysis/total.svg

To get the code for the badge see https://shields.io/badges/git-hub-downloads-all-assets-all-releases

I have too many repos with assets so I whipped up this little dashboard page where I can see them all at once.
https://007revad.github.io/stats.html

 

[DaveR]

FYI for anyone who manually installed a previous version of my Syno Ookla Speedtest package.

Because I changed the name of the package, Package Center will see the installed version and the available version as 2 different packages (so no Upgrade button shows). You'll need to uninstall the old version then install the latest version.

 

[DaveR]

My package repository now supports all the languages that DSM supports. Now I need to add other languages to my own packages.

 

[DaveR]

I posted about my Synology package repository here and on reddit. Surprisingly Germans are using, or trying it, more than all the other countries. For Australia, the larger dot would be from all the testing I've done. It's nice to see that people or trying the repository. I've also noticed the downloads for all the packages (except autorun) has increased in the last 10 hours.

 

[Skyhigh]

Nice work
Im gonna add it on the weekend when I have time to do so and to test, then there's another point on the German map ^^

Short question:
You've made so much scripts to help others, HDD_database, nvme_enable, smart data etc.

Would it be possible to add them as packages?
I have some friends that somehow don't like scripts they don't understand but have no problems to add/install packages they don't know ^^

I can't imagine they are the only ones acting like this.

Would be nice if you can say: "add my repository and install package xy".
Instead of writing manuals in how to add scripts to the taskplanner.

 

[atzebonn]

Thanks a lot Dave - I appreciate your effort(s) !

 

[DaveR]

@Skyhigh

I'm already thinking about which of my scripts can be made into packages. I've got the "package developer" bug

 

[Tommes]

I thought this bug had already been eradicated. Apparently, that’s not the case. In any case, once you catch this bug, it's difficult to get rid of. I speak from painful experience.

 

[DaveR]

I was just looking at old releases in your repos to see if you had any DSM 6 packages and noticed how many years you've been developing packages.

There's one DSM 6 package in my repository index and it's feeling lonely.

 

[Tommes]

I just checked. The initial release of Ultimate Backup, version 0.10, was on July 23, 2016. So I started this “crap” a good ten years ago. Back when I started, there were still a few third-party developers, and there was a lively exchange among us. Over the years, however, more and more people have dropped out, so that currently, besides me, only @geimist is still active with his synOCR. Although I wouldn’t really call myself active anymore either.

Maybe you'll bring a breath of fresh air and spark some new projects. You've already laid the groundwork, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what else you have in store.

 

[geimist]

This repo is fantastic. Especially because it’s so straightforward and the developers retain control (my broken synOCR from cphub.net is still being served to this day and hasn’t been deleted even after years, which confuses users ). @Tommes and I had already looked into Synocommunity, but that would require completely changing the build environment.

Are you also making the source code available? I’ve only found a few pictures. I’d like to run a few more tests in my environment.

Thanks so much for your contributions here, @DaveR