Install custom software on Iomega PX4-300D NAS (Debian OS)

Question

I am trying to put additional software on my Networked Attached Storage (NAS) The NAS appears to be running Debian.

Anyway, apt-get is already on the machine. I just needed to add the correct folders.

However, when I proceed:

root@NAS:/opt/apps# apt-get install transmission
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
apt apt-utils ca-certificates coreutils debconf debconf-i18n
debian-archive-keyring debianutils defoma dpkg file fontconfig
fontconfig-config gcc-4.3-base gnupg gpgv hicolor-icon-theme ifupdown
libacl1 libatk1.0-0 libatk1.0-data libattr1 libbz2-1.0 libc6 libcairo2
libcomerr2 libcups2 libcurl3 libdatrie0 libdb4.6 libdirectfb-1.0-0 libexpat1
libfontconfig1 libfontenc1 libfreetype6 libfribidi0 libgcc1 libgcrypt11
libgdbm3 libglib2.0-0 libglib2.0-data libgnutls26 libgpg-error0 libgpm2
libgtk2.0-0 libgtk2.0-bin libgtk2.0-common libidn11 libjpeg62 libkeyutils1
libkrb53 libldap-2.4-2 liblocale-gettext-perl libmagic1 libncurses5
libnewt0.52 libpango1.0-0 libpango1.0-common libpcre3 libpixman-1-0
libpng12-0 libpopt0 libreadline5 libsasl2-2 libsasl2-modules libselinux1
libslang2 libssh2-1 libssl0.9.8 libstdc++6 libsysfs2 libtasn1-3
libtext-charwidth-perl libtext-iconv-perl libtext-wrapi18n-perl libthai-data
libthai0 libtiff4 libts-0.0-0 libusb-0.1-4 libx11-6 libx11-data libxau6
libxcb-render-util0 libxcb-render0 libxcb-xlib0 libxcb1 libxcomposite1
libxcursor1 libxdamage1 libxdmcp6 libxext6 libxfixes3 libxfont1 libxft2
libxi6 libxinerama1 libxrandr2 libxrender1 lsb-base lzma ncurses-bin
net-tools netbase openssl perl perl-base perl-modules readline-common sed
transmission-cli transmission-common transmission-gtk ttf-dejavu
ttf-dejavu-core ttf-dejavu-extra ucf whiptail x-ttcidfont-conf x11-common
xfonts-encodings xfonts-utils zlib1g
Suggested packages:
aptitude synaptic gnome-apt wajig dpkg-dev apt-doc bzip2 python-apt
debconf-doc debconf-utils libterm-readline-gnu-perl libgnome2-perl
libqt-perl libnet-ldap-perl defoma-doc dfontmgr psfontmgr gnupg-doc
xloadimage imagemagick eog libpcsclite1 iproute dhcp3-client dhcp-client ppp
locales glibc-doc cups-common libfreetype6-dev rng-tools gnutls-bin gpm
librsvg2-common krb5-doc krb5-user ttf-kochi-gothic ttf-kochi-mincho
ttf-thryomanes ttf-baekmuk ttf-arphic-gbsn00lp ttf-arphic-bsmi00lp
ttf-arphic-gkai00mp ttf-arphic-bkai00mp libsasl2-modules-otp
libsasl2-modules-ldap libsasl2-modules-sql libsasl2-modules-gssapi-mit
libsasl2-modules-gssapi-heimdal perl-doc
Recommended packages:
libft-perl
The following NEW packages will be installed:
apt apt-utils ca-certificates coreutils debconf debconf-i18n
debian-archive-keyring debianutils defoma dpkg file fontconfig
fontconfig-config gcc-4.3-base gnupg gpgv hicolor-icon-theme ifupdown
libacl1 libatk1.0-0 libatk1.0-data libattr1 libbz2-1.0 libc6 libcairo2
libcomerr2 libcups2 libcurl3 libdatrie0 libdb4.6 libdirectfb-1.0-0 libexpat1
libfontconfig1 libfontenc1 libfreetype6 libfribidi0 libgcc1 libgcrypt11
libgdbm3 libglib2.0-0 libglib2.0-data libgnutls26 libgpg-error0 libgpm2
libgtk2.0-0 libgtk2.0-bin libgtk2.0-common libidn11 libjpeg62 libkeyutils1
libkrb53 libldap-2.4-2 liblocale-gettext-perl libmagic1 libncurses5
libnewt0.52 libpango1.0-0 libpango1.0-common libpcre3 libpixman-1-0
libpng12-0 libpopt0 libreadline5 libsasl2-2 libsasl2-modules libselinux1
libslang2 libssh2-1 libssl0.9.8 libstdc++6 libsysfs2 libtasn1-3
libtext-charwidth-perl libtext-iconv-perl libtext-wrapi18n-perl libthai-data
libthai0 libtiff4 libts-0.0-0 libusb-0.1-4 libx11-6 libx11-data libxau6
libxcb-render-util0 libxcb-render0 libxcb-xlib0 libxcb1 libxcomposite1
libxcursor1 libxdamage1 libxdmcp6 libxext6 libxfixes3 libxfont1 libxft2
libxi6 libxinerama1 libxrandr2 libxrender1 lsb-base lzma ncurses-bin
net-tools netbase openssl perl perl-base perl-modules readline-common sed
transmission transmission-cli transmission-common transmission-gtk
ttf-dejavu ttf-dejavu-core ttf-dejavu-extra ucf whiptail x-ttcidfont-conf
x11-common xfonts-encodings xfonts-utils zlib1g
0 upgraded, 124 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/55.7MB of archives.
After this operation, 167MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
E: Internal Error, Could not perform immediate configuration (2) on libc6

When you try to fix this package you get this:

root@NAS:/var/cache/apt/archives# dpkg -i "libc6_2.7-18lenny7_amd64.deb"
Selecting previously deselected package libc6.
(Reading database ... 0 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking libc6 (from libc6_2.7-18lenny7_amd64.deb) ...
Matching libraries: /mnt/apps/lib/libc.so.6

A copy of glibc was found in an unexpected directory.
It is not safe to upgrade the C library in this situation;
please remove that copy of the C library and try again.
dpkg: error processing libc6_2.7-18lenny7_amd64.deb (--install):
subprocess pre-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
libc6_2.7-18lenny7_amd64.deb

I tried moving /mnt/apps/lib/libc.so.6 temporary to another location, but I get the message it is a read-only file system.

I hope someone can help me. With the UNIX knowledge I have I can't really get further than what I already tried. By the way, usually these kind of NAS' can use the IPKG package manager. However, all IPKG repository's seem to only work on ARM based systems, and this one is based on Intel Atom CPU's.

Solution

You will need to do two things:

1. mount /mnt/apps read+write
2. point the (most likely) existing directories for dpkg in /opt to the ones dpkg is looking for

It seems that the firmware is very similar to the other "EMC LifeLine" products, like the Home Media Network Hard Drive Cloud Edition.

This is all a very complex process which requires good knowledge of Linux and the NAS. Try to post your question in the NAS-Central Forums. There is good documentation in the Wiki about the apt-get enabling and mounting apps r+w but keep in mind that in order to do a similar procedure on your NAS, you will need to

• fully understand all these steps and commands and
• reverse engineer the boot process of your NAS in order to find the location of the initial ramdisk.

And a final warning: Doing any of this might brick your device!

Comments

[edwardmp]

Thanks for your ideas. It seems to be too much risky work as you state. Too bad. I actually had bought the Home Media Network Hard Drive Cloud edition you mentioned, and installing software was easy on that thing. It broke and Iomega sent me this NAS as a replacement. Installing software is a crime on this thing only. Too bad.

[Stefan Seidel]

They sent you a PX4-300D for a HMNHD-CE? They sent me a crappy Ez Media&Backup Center for my broken HMNHD-CE, wanna swap ;-) Anyway, meet me in the NAS-Central Forums if you want to make this work, but actually since this is x86-based, it will be easier to just install a fresh Debian, or better, OpenMediaVault, a NAS-targeted distro based on Debian.

[Stefan Seidel]

Just to add, OpenMediaVault was just what came to my mind because it runs on ARM as well. Here is a good list of some NAS operating systems (in German, but you'll be able to google their names to find out more).

[edwardmp]

I joined NAS-Central. Hope I will get further there.