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fbelavenuto/arpl

★ 7,309ShellAudience · ops devopsComplexity · 4/5Setup · hard

TLDR

Archived tool that let users boot Synology's DSM NAS operating system on non-Synology hardware like generic PCs or virtual machines, with automatic hardware detection, serial number generation, and kernel patching. The active replacement is RROrg/rr.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((ARPL))
    What it does
      Boot DSM on any PC
      Auto hardware detect
      Kernel patching
    Access Methods
      Terminal menu
      Web browser
      SSH
    Requirements
      4 GB RAM minimum
      SATA storage only
    Status
      Archived
      Use RROrg/rr instead
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Code map

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Run Synology DSM on a generic homelab server or PC instead of buying official Synology hardware.

USE CASE 2

Boot DSM inside a virtual machine for testing or development without physical NAS hardware.

USE CASE 3

Automatically re-apply kernel patches after a DSM update would otherwise break the custom bootloader.

Tech stack

ShellLinux

Getting it running

Difficulty · hard Time to first run · 1h+

Requires at least 4 GB RAM and SATA-connected storage, SAS/SCSI disks not supported. Project is archived, active fork is RROrg/rr.

In plain English

Note: this project has been archived. The README points to https://github.com/RROrg/rr as the active replacement. ARPL, short for Automated Redpill Loader, was a tool that helped users install Synology's DSM operating system on hardware that Synology does not officially support. DSM is the operating system that runs on Synology network-attached storage devices, which are small computers used to store and serve files on a home or office network. ARPL let users run DSM on generic PC hardware, virtual machines, or other compatible machines, a practice sometimes called XPenology. The process works by burning an ARPL image onto a USB drive or a small storage module called a SATA disk-on-module, booting the target machine from that media, and then walking through a menu to configure the loader before starting DSM. The loader automatically detects the hardware it is running on, including the type of storage device and the network interfaces present, reducing the amount of manual configuration a user would otherwise need to do. It also automatically re-applies patches to the DSM kernel if the system receives an update that would otherwise break the boot process. The menu interface can be accessed three ways: directly from a terminal on the machine, through a web browser on another device on the same network, or over SSH. Once a DSM model and build number are selected and a serial number is generated, the loader builds a boot image and starts DSM. Final DSM setup continues through the browser. The project has minimum requirements: at least 4 gigabytes of RAM, and SATA-connected storage (SAS or SCSI disks are not supported by the DSM kernel). Some hardware features such as SMART disk monitoring only work on specific DSM models. The author, a Brazilian developer, built ARPL originally for personal testing and shared it publicly. The underlying techniques build on earlier community work from the XPenology project.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Explain how a DSM bootloader like ARPL detects the host's hardware, storage type, network interfaces, and generates a matching boot image.
Prompt 2
How does XPenology-style DSM loading work at a technical level: what kernel patches does a loader like ARPL apply and why?
Prompt 3
What are the hardware requirements and limitations when running Synology DSM on unofficial hardware, and what features won't work?
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