Synology-Homebrew + Neovim!

Introduction

Simplify the installation of Homebrew on Synology NAS devices running DSM 7.2 or later with this script. Our repository streamlines the process, ensuring comprehensive coverage of available packages for macOS/Linux on your Synology NAS.

Why Homebrew on Synology NAS?

Homebrew, a package manager for macOS and Linux, unlocks a vast ecosystem of modern software and libraries for your Synology NAS. Dive into the richer features as mentioned below...

Key Features

• Installation Options: Choose between a Minimal or Advanced installation. If you just want homebrew to work then Minimal install is for you.
• Profile Creation: Configures the default Synology ash/sh profile and newly installed zsh to work seamlessly with Homebrew.
• Synology Integration: Resolves conflicts with existing Synology packages without removing anything from your NAS.
• Easy Uninstall: Revert to the original state with the included uninstall script.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following:

1. Synology NAS Requirements:

   • A Synology NAS running DSM 7.2 or later.
   • SSH access to your NAS.
   • User homes enabled on your NAS.

2. Git Installation:

   • Git is necessary for the installation process and can be installed via the Package Center Manager from SynoCommunity. During Homebrew installation, Git will be updated to the latest version in Homebrew's path. If desired, you can uninstall the Synology Package Center version of Git afterwards.

3. Homebrew Setup:

   • Create a scheduled task to ensure Homebrew is mounted after each restart. Detailed instructions are provided below.

4. iTerm2 Configuration:

   • iTerm2 (or alternative other than the default MacOS Terminal.app) running on your local machine with compatible Nerd Fonts and a color profile for an improved visual experience.
     Refer to the iTerm2 Configuration Guide for a quick setup.

Installation

Download and Run in one command: SSH into your Synology NAS running DSM 7.2 or above, and copy/paste the following command to download into your home directory and automatically execute the script.

git clone https://github.com/MrCee/Synology-Homebrew.git ~/Synology-Homebrew && \
~/Synology-Homebrew/install-synology-homebrew.sh

Select your install type:

1) Minimal Install: This will provide the homebrew basics, ignore packages in config.json, leaving the rest to you.

You can also use this option to uninstall packages in config.json installed by option 2 by running the script again.

2) Advanced Install: Full setup includes packages in config.json

Recommended if you want to get started with Neovim or install some of the great packages listed.

Both install types include the following essential packages to ensure Homebrew runs smoothly on Synology:

git, ruby, glibc, gcc, clang-build-analyzer (which includes latest python & pip), zsh, oh-my-zsh.

Configuration for Advanced install (config.json)

To manage packages, plugins, and themes, edit the config.json file and set the install flag to one of three options: true, false, or skip.

• true: Install the package, plugin, or theme.
• false: Uninstall the package, plugin, or theme.
• skip: Do nothing, leaving the current state unchanged.

Plugins and themes can be defined under the plugins section. During script processing, config.json will be updated to use the last part of the URL as the plugin name, ensuring consistency in stdout and further processing.

Additionally, you can define aliases and eval commands across all config.json entries, which will be reflected in ~/.zshrc.

config.json example

The script will attempt to fix formatting errors and validate config.json providing a response to stdout if error is detected. The below is a snippet of how config.json should be formatted. Please see the file downloaded from this repository for the full scope.

{
  "packages": {
    "neovim": {
      "install": true,
      "aliases": {
        "vim": "nvim"
      },
      "eval": ""
    },
    "stow": {
      "install": "skip",
      "aliases": "",
      "eval": ""
    },
    "bat": {
      "install": true,
      "aliases": {
        "cat": "bat --paging=never"
      },
      "eval": ""
    },
    "eza": {
      "install": true,
      "aliases": {
        "ls": "eza --color=always --group-directories-first --icons",
        "ll": "eza -la --icons --octal-permissions --group-directories-first --icons",
        "l": "eza -bGF --header --git --color=always --group-directories-first --icons",
        "llm": "eza -lbGd --header --git --sort=modified --color=always --group-directories-first --icons",
        "la": "eza --long --all --group --group-directories-first",
        "lx": "eza -lbhHigUmuSa@ --time-style=long-iso --git --color-scale --color=always --group-directories-first --icons",
        "lS": "eza -1 --color=always --group-directories-first --icons",
        "lt": "eza --tree --level=2 --color=always --group-directories-first --icons",
        "l.": "eza -a | grep -E '^\\.'"
      },
      "eval": ""
    },
    "thefuck": {
      "install": true,
      "aliases": "",
      "eval": "thefuck --alias"
    }
  },
  "plugins": {
    "powerlevel10k": {
      "install": true,
      "url": "https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k",
      "directory": "~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/themes/powerlevel10k",
      "aliases": "",
      "eval": ""
    },
    "kickstart.nvim": {
      "install": true,
      "url": "https://github.com/nvim-lua/kickstart.nvim",
      "directory": "~/.config/nvim-kickstart",
      "aliases": {
        "nvim": "NVIM_APPNAME=\"nvim-kickstart\" nvim"
      },
      "eval": ""
    }
  }
}

Installed packages

Modify packages to be installed by editing config.json and setting the install flag to true, false, or skip.

Package	Description	Dependency
brew	Homebrew - The Missing Package Manager now for MacOS & Linux.	Essential for: Synology-Homebrew
git	Latest version replaces Synology Package Centre version.	Essential for: Synology-Homebrew
ruby	Latest version replaces Synology Package Centre version.	Essential for: Synology-Homebrew
zsh	UNIX shell (command interpreter).	Essential for: Synology-Homebrew
python3 / pip3	Installed with clang-build-analyzer. Latest version 3.12.3	Essential for: Synology-Homebrew
glibc	The GNU C Library - The project provides the core libraries for the GNU system.	Essential for: Synology-Homebrew
gcc	GNU compiler collection.	Essential for: Synology-Homebrew
clang	installed with clang-build-analyzer containing many essential tools.	Essential for: Synology-Homebrew
oh-my-zsh	Oh My Zsh is a delightful, open source, community-driven framework for managing your Zsh configuration.	Essential for: Synology-Homebrew, zsh
jq	Latest version of Lightweight and flexible command-line JSON processor	Essential for: Synology-Homebrew
make	Utility for directing compilation.	Essential for: neovim plugins
node	JavaScript runtime environment.	Essential for: neovim
neovim	Hyperextensible Vim-based text editor.	Recommended for: Synology
powerlevel10k	A theme for zsh.	Recommended for: oh-my-zsh
zsh-syntax-highlighting	A plugin for zsh.	Recommended for: oh-my-zsh
zsh-autosuggestions	A plugin for zsh.	Recommended for: oh-my-zsh
ripgrep	Ripgrep is a line-oriented search tool that recursively searches the current directory for a regex pattern.	Essential for: neovim, telescope, fzf
fd	Simple, fast and user-friendly alternative to find.	Essential for: neovim, telescope
fzf	A command-line fuzzy finder.	Essential for: neovim, telescope
fzf-git.sh	Bash and zsh key bindings for Git objects.	Recommended for: neovim, telescope, fzf
bat	A cat clone with syntax highlighting and Git integration.	Recommended for: zsh, neovim
git-delta	Language syntax highlighting for diff using a Levenshtein edit inference algorithm.	Recommended for: neovim
eza	A modern, maintained replacement for the venerable file-listing command-line program ls	Recommended for: zsh, neovim
tldr	The tldr-pages project is a collection of community-maintained help pages for command-line tools	Recommended for: neovim
thefuck	A magnificent app that corrects errors in previous console command.	Recommended for: zsh
kickstart.nvim	A starting point for Neovim.	Optional for: neovim
perl	Highly capable, feature-rich programming language.	Essential for: stow
stow	GNU Stow: Organize software neatly under a single directory tree.	Optional
zoxide	Zoxide is a smarter cd command, inspired by z and autojump	Recommended for: zsh
lazygit	AMAZING Simple terminal UI for git commands	Recommended for: zsh, neovim

For a full list of dependancies installed, run: brew deps --installed after installation.

Neovim

Neovim (nvim) is ready to go with essential requirements configured within a separate file nvim_config.sh in which you can run indepenently to enable clipboard and further required files. This includes:

• Enable clipboard over SSH using OSC52 for all nvim configurations stored or symlinked in ~/.config.
• Linting Python with pip3 install pynvim.
• Updating outdated gems.
• Installing neovim gem.
• Adding fzf-git.sh with Git key bindings to ~/.scripts directory.

Kickstart Neovim with Lazy (optional)

In the plugins section of config.json, set kickstart.nvim to true to install and configure Neovim with kickstart.nvim. This provides a lazy configuration with everything working out of the box. It will be installed to the specified directory in config.json with a backup of any existing config to your home folder.

To switch between Neovim configurations easily, use aliases in ~/.zshrc:

alias nvim='NVIM_APPNAME="nvim-kickstart" nvim' # Aliases ~/.config/nvim-kickstart
alias nvim # Shows current nvim command alias
unalias nvim # Removes previous alias
alias nvim='NVIM_APPNAME="your-custom-nvim-directory" nvim' # Aliases ~/.config/your-custom-nvim-directory

See kickstart.nvim provided in the config.json example above.

If no alias is set, Neovim will attempt to use the default nvim config location ~/.config/nvim

Run :checkhealth in Neovim after installation to see more detail about any further plugins you may need.

Customizing Your zsh

The Synology-Homebrew + Neovim setup comes pre-configured with a sleek Zsh theme and several useful plugins to enhance your command-line experience. Customize your zsh with ease using the p10k configure command and enjoy a fully tailored terminal environment.

Synology Task Scheduler to Persist Installation after Restart

We need to ensure the Homebrew directory is mounted after each restart. Add the following to Synology Task Scheduler:

1. Triggered Task | User-defined script
   • Task name: Homebrew Boot
   • User: root
   • Event: Boot-up
   • Enabled: True
   • Task Settings | Run Command:

#!/bin/bash
[[ ! -d /home ]] && mkdir /home
mount -o bind "/volume1/homes" /home

TL;TR

Portable Code (Limited)

Regex and functions.sh Explained

If you would like to use parts of this code across different environments, such as macOS (a BSD-based Unix-like operating system), you'll appreciate the addition of the functions.sh file.

This file houses functions designed to standardise commands used in Synology NAS (GNU Linux), ensuring compatibility and portability across platforms, particularly with utilities like sed.

This approach simplifies the process of adapting similar code to other systems outside of Synology NAS.

Please Note: install-synology-homebrew.sh should only be run on Synology NAS.

Usage and Contributions

Refer to Homebrew documentation for usage instructions. Contributions are welcome! Open an issue or submit a pull request on GitHub for feedback or suggestions.

Disclaimer and License

This script is provided as-is without any warranty. Review and understand the script's changes to your system before running it. This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the many people and teams that contribute to the packages installed by this script, the GitHub & Synology community, and some of the best on youtube. @ogerardin, @AppleBoiy, @josean-dev, @tjdevries.