I'm new to unRAID. I've got the basic 3 disk setup and have installed "unmenu". When I tried to download the "ntfs-3g" package via unmenu's package installer option, I received a red error message: "Error in download. MD5 of existing download file NOT matched - download may be corrupted." It said to try to re-download the file, which I did, several times, with the same result.

 

Is there a problem with the repository where the file is kept, or is the a problem with unmenu? Do I really need "ntfs-3g" for file transfers from Windows XP clients to unRAID server, or is SAMBA able to handle this without ntfs-3g?

 

Also, I see, in the Package Manager that 2 or 3 programs are marked "Currently installed but not downloaded". This seems confusing. If the programs are installed, why bother to mention "but not downloaded". It seems clear enough that the programs were automatically installed when unRAID server 4.5 was initially installed. IMHO the only thing that should be noted beyond "Currently installed" is whether an updated package is available for download and perhaps a short description of what the update provides in the way of new features or fixes.

I think that package just allows you to mount NTFS disks on your unRAID server so you probably wont need it.

If you are copying over the network there is no need for it.  That package allows you to mount, locally (i.e. in the unRAID machine), an NTFS drive and copy to and from it.

I'm new to unRAID. I've got the basic 3 disk setup and have installed "unmenu". When I tried to download the "ntfs-3g" package via unmenu's package installer option, I received a red error message: "Error in download. MD5 of existing download file NOT matched - download may be corrupted." It said to try to re-download the file, which I did, several times, with the same result.

 

Is there a problem with the repository where the file is kept, or is the a problem with unmenu?

The repository where the file is kept has changed from that in the .conf file for the ntfs-3g package.  When you attempt to download it, you bacically get a "file-not-found" error message returned, and it has a different md5 checksum than expected.

 

This constant re-organization of package repositories is something we must constantly address.  I have no good answer, and I do not intend to create my own repository for them.  All you can do is see if somebody has an updated package .conf file for your package than that you installed.

Do I really need "ntfs-3g" for file transfers from Windows XP clients to unRAID server, or is SAMBA able to handle this without ntfs-3g?

You ONLY need ntfs-3g if you are installing an NTFS formatted drive IN your unRAID array, but not assigned as part of the array AND you intend to write to it.

 

If you intend to only read from an NTFS drive that is installed to a disk controller in your unRAID server, you do not need the ntfs-3g driver.

 

If your file transfers are via SAMBA, there is no need to have any ntfs driver loaded.  SAMBA takes care of writing to the unRAID array disks.

Also, I see, in the Package Manager that 2 or 3 programs are marked "Currently installed but not downloaded". This seems confusing. If the programs are installed, why bother to mention "but not downloaded". It seems clear enough that the programs were automatically installed when unRAID server 4.5 was initially installed.

unMENU has been around form a lot longer than you, and a lot longer than version 4.5 of unRAID.  At one point in time, those programs that are now "installed" but not downloaded were not part of unRAID.  It is because we were able to prove their value to lime-technology that they now are delivered with the base product they distribute.    It was a huge breakthrough, as even "wget" was nt included in unRAID when it was written, so we had to write our own version of it in "awk" to even have it download anything.  Today the plug-in could be simplified by using the "wget" command that is not supplied with unRAID's base package, but that would break ithe plug-inon older versions of unRAID that do not have "wget" and gain no real functionality, as it still would fail if given an out-of-date/invalid URL to download a given package from.

IMHO the only thing that should be noted beyond "Currently installed" is whether an updated package is available for download and perhaps a short description of what the update provides in the way of new features or fixes.

The unMENU package manager plug-in is entirely written in "awk"  I welcome you to edit it to improve the wording and/or functionality, or even just suggest better wording.    I'd be a fool to not listen to how to improve it.      The issue I need to keep in mind is that changes need to be backward compatible with the older versions of unRAID.

 

The lines of code are here (starting around line 349 in file 990-unmenu-wget.awk) and are commented so you can figure out which you'd like to change.

} else {
       # package has not been downloaded
        if ( FileExists( package_installed[i] ) == "yes" ) {
           ver_string = PackageVersionTest( package_version_test[i] )

           # if package is installed already and is the same version
           if ( ver_string == package_version_string[i] ) {
             theHTML = theHTML "<td><font color=\"navy\">Currently installed, but not downloaded.</font></td>"
             theHTML = theHTML "<td><input type=submit name=\"download-" package_file[i] "\" value=\"Download " package_file[i] "\"</td>"
           } else {
             theHTML = theHTML "<td><font color=\"teal\">Installed, current version='" ver_string "' but expected '" package_version_string[i] "'</font></td>"
             theHTML = theHTML "<td><input type=submit name=\"download-" package_file[i] "\" value=\"Download " package_file[i] "\"</td>"
           }
        } else {
           theHTML = theHTML "<td> </td>"
           theHTML = theHTML "<td><input type=submit name=\"download-" package_file[i] "\" value=\"Download " package_file[i] "\"</td>"
        }
    }

 

It is a text file, so don't edit it in a MS-DOS editor that adds carriage returns to the ends of the lines. 

 

Joe L.

This constant re-organization of package repositories is something we must constantly address.  I have no good answer, and I do not intend to create my own repository for them.

 

Darn!  I can't think of anyone better to create and manage it! 

 

It does seem like a good idea though for *someone*, to create an online folder containing both the commonly requested packages and their associated .conf files.  That way, you could remove that aspect from your UnMENU distribution, and just add a way to download/refresh the local folder of package .conf files.

This constant re-organization of package repositories is something we must constantly address.  I have no good answer, and I do not intend to create my own repository for them.

 

Darn!  I can't think of anyone better to create and manage it!   

 

It does seem like a good idea though for *someone*, to create an online folder containing both the commonly requested packages and their associated .conf files.  That way, you could remove that aspect from your UnMENU distribution, and just add a way to download/refresh the local folder of package .conf files.

I've been thinking about just such a new feature, to "auto-update" unMENU.  My biggest problem is I do not have a web-host for the files I'd need.  I probably could use google-code, but the files hosted there as "downloads" are not editable to keep them up to date.  New files must have new names. (Can't keep editing the single file keeping a single list up to date)

 

Joe L.

 

If you still need ntfs-3g, you can get it from here:

ftp://slackware.osuosl.org/pub/slackware/slackware-current/slackware/a/ntfs-3g-2009.4.4-i486-1.txz

(But from reading your post, I think that you don't need it.)