Armbian Software

flowchart LR
  A[Software] ----> B["Containerlization"];
  A[Software] ----> C["Desktops"];
  A[Software] -----> D["DNS blockers"];
  A[Software] -----> E["Home Automation"];
  A[Software] ------> F["Monitoring"];
  A[Software] ------> G["Development"];
  A[Software] ------> J["Network tools"];
  A[Software] ----------> H["Remote Management tools"];
  A[Software] ----------> I["Media Servers"];

To start the Armbian software section, use the following command and choose software section:

armbian-config

Adding example

Tinkering

Manual install

First try to install application manually. If it works on Debian or Ubuntu, proceed. In this example we will be using test.

Clone repository

git clone https://github.com/armbian/configng

Design menu

Predict which commands you expect to have in the menu. For installing an application, we usually need two, install and uninstall. Armbian-config stores menu in JSON files, so you need to select appropriate file. This one we will place under Software -> Management.

{
    "id": "MAN005",
    "description": "Webmin web-based management tool",
    "command": [
        "see_menu module_webmin"
    ],
    "status": "Stable",
    "author": "@Tearran",
    "condition": ""
}

Field name	Function	Notes
id	unique identifier	Select higher number. If you will select existing, application will fail to run
description	menu descriptor	This will be displayed in the menu
prompt	confirmation text	Some features needs confirmation before proceeding
command	executes function	What should be run after we select and agree (optional)
status	Stable|Disabled	Control if function is shown to users in the menu
author	GitHub handle	Developer or maintainer of this functionality
condition	controlling display	Under what conditions we show this menu item

Note

Pay attention to JSON structure. JSON validator at pull request will break in case spaces or commas will be placed wrong.

Module code

Place module functions, each into its file, following by file naming convention, into one of the folders:

docs
functions
network
runtime
software
system

declare -A module_options
module_options+=(
    ["module_template,author"]="@armbian"
    ["module_template,feature"]="module_template"
    ["module_template,example"]="install remove help"
    ["module_template,desc"]="Example module unattended interface."
    ["module_template,status"]="review"
)

function module_template() {
    local title="test"
    local condition=$(which "$title" 2>/dev/null)

    # Convert the example string to an array
    local commands
    IFS=' ' read -r -a commands <<< "${module_options["module_template,example"]}"

    case "$1" in
        "${commands[0]}")
        echo "Installing $title..."
        # Installation logic here
        ;;
        "${commands[1]}")
        echo "Removing $title..."
        # Removal logic here
        ;;
        "${commands[2]}")
            echo -e "\nUsage: ${module_options["module_template,feature"]} <command>"
            echo -e "Commands:  ${module_options["module_template,example"]}"
            echo "Available commands:"
            echo -e "\tinstall\t- Install $title."
            echo -e "\tremove\t- Remove $title."
            echo
        ;;
        *)
        ${module_options["module_template,feature"]} ${commands[2]}
        ;;
    esac
    }

# uncomment to test the module
#module_template "$1"

Note

Pay attention to coding style structure. If you use modern IDE, this will be done automatically.

Manual testing

Whenever you are making changes to the JSON or modules structure, make sure to join JSON segments into main JSON file and fun. This you do with a command:

tools/config-assemble.sh -p

Python is required to run this tool.

sudo sudo bin/armbian-config --cmd

Unit tests

This part is optional but highly recommended for at least install functionality. Our CI infrastructure will test this feature at pull request, on general code changes (push to main branch) and daily. It will test feature on latest Debian and Ubuntu images. Unit tests have simple design:

Name of the config file is function id (unique identifier) CON004.conf

ENABLED=true
RELEASE="bookworm:jammy:noble"
CONDITION="test=\$(docker container ls -a |  grep portainer )"

Make sure to add a test condition that makes sense. It has to return 0 when test succeeds and 1 if fails.

Variable	Function	Description
ENABLED	false / true	If test is live or not
PREINSTALL	cmd to run	specific test dependencies
CONDITION	main test verification	must return 0 for test success
RELEASE	bookworm:jammy:noble”	run on specific or leave empty to run on all

Pull request

When your solution works locally and you prepare unit tests its time to submit a pull request. Fix your code and unit tests until all pull request checks becomes green.

Examples:

• armbian/configng!210
• armbian/configng!230
• armbian/configng!240

Documentation

Documentation is generated automatically after your pull request is merged. But as automated documentation might not be satisfactory, you can add cover image, header and footer. You can use markdown elements with enhancements from https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/

Cover image

Once code works perfectly, look for cover image. It can be .png or .webp. Place image to the tools/include/images/CON004.webp

Header

Portainer simplifies your Docker container management via Portainer web interface. It enables faster deploy of the applications and it gives real time visibility.

Footer

=== "Access to the web interface"

    The web interface is accessible via port **9002**:

    - URL = `http://<your.IP>:9002`