Makefile Variables¶

This page documents the Makefile variables used in spksrc packages.

Reference Documentation

For a complete reference of all variables and targets, see Makefile Reference.

Include Order Matters

Architecture variables (ARMv7_ARCHS, x64_ARCHS, etc.) and the helper macros are defined by spksrc.common.mk, which loads the architecture classification and macros early (see Macros). Any ifeq using them must therefore appear after include ../../mk/spksrc.common.mk (or the relevant spksrc.cross-*.mk, which includes it) — referenced before the include they are empty.

Package Identification¶

Cross Packages¶

Variable	Required	Description
`PKG_NAME`	Yes	Package name (lowercase, hyphens)
`PKG_VERS`	Yes	Package version
`PKG_EXT`	Yes	Source file extension (tar.gz, tar.xz, zip)
`PKG_DIST_NAME`	Yes	Source filename to download
`PKG_DIST_SITE`	Yes	Base URL for download
`PKG_DIST_MIRRORS`	No	Extra base URLs to fall back to (see Source downloads and mirrors)
`PKG_DIR`	Yes	Directory name after extraction

Example:

PKG_NAME = curl
PKG_VERS = 8.4.0
PKG_EXT = tar.xz
PKG_DIST_NAME = $(PKG_NAME)-$(PKG_VERS).$(PKG_EXT)
PKG_DIST_SITE = https://curl.se/download
PKG_DIR = $(PKG_NAME)-$(PKG_VERS)

Source downloads and mirrors¶

A download is never a single request. The framework builds a list of candidate URLs, tries each in turn, and stops at the first success. The list is finite -- the primary URL, plus the mirrors described below, de-duplicated -- and each candidate is retried DOWNLOAD_TRIES times (2 by default), so a download that cannot succeed fails instead of looping.

Well-known project mirrors are automatic. If PKG_DIST_SITE points at one of the big source hosts, the framework already knows its mirrors and will try them without any declaration on your part:

If the URL is hosted on	Fallbacks are taken from
GNU (`ftp.gnu.org`, `ftpmirror.gnu.org`)	`GNU_MIRRORS`
SourceForge (`downloads.sourceforge.net`)	`SOURCEFORGE_MIRRORS`
GNOME (`download.gnome.org`)	`GNOME_MIRRORS`
X.Org (`www.x.org`)	`XORG_MIRRORS`
kernel.org (`cdn.kernel.org`)	`KERNEL_MIRRORS`

A candidate is built by replacing everything up to and including the family's tree-root marker (/gnu/, /project/, /sources/, ...) with the mirror base, so mirrors that host the tree under a different prefix still resolve correctly. Any other URL -- GitHub, a project's own server -- simply has no family, and the primary URL is used on its own.

PKG_DIST_MIRRORS covers everything else. It takes a space-separated list of base URLs; PKG_DIST_NAME is appended to each. Use it when upstream is the right place to fetch from but cannot be relied on:

PKG_DIST_SITE = https://znc.in/releases
# znc.in serves the release tarballs, but it has been flaky (its TLS
# certificate expired on 2026-07-14). Fall back to our own mirror.
PKG_DIST_MIRRORS = https://github.com/SynoCommunity/spksrc/releases/download/sources

Two things to keep in mind:

The file name must match. The mirror has to serve the file under exactly PKG_DIST_NAME. A distribution that repackages the tarball under its own name (Debian's znc_1.10.2.orig.tar.gz, say) cannot be used as a mirror base.
The digests still apply. Every candidate is checked against digests, so a mirror serving different bytes fails the build rather than poisoning it. This is what makes it safe to list a third-party mirror at all.

When no mirror serves the right file name, the durable answer is to upload the tarball to the SynoCommunity sources release and point PKG_DIST_MIRRORS at it.

SPK Packages¶

Variable	Required	Description
`SPK_NAME`	Yes	Package name shown in Package Center
`SPK_VERS`	Yes	Version displayed to users
`SPK_REV`	Yes	Revision number (increment for each release)
`SPK_ICON`	No	Path to package icon (256x256+ PNG, auto-resized)

Metadata¶

Variable	Required	Description
`HOMEPAGE`	No	Project website
`COMMENT`	Yes	Short description
`LICENSE`	Yes	License name (GPLv2, MIT, etc.)
`LICENSE_FILE`	No	Path to license agreement file
`MAINTAINER`	Yes	Package maintainer name
`DESCRIPTION`	SPK only	Full description for Package Center
`DISPLAY_NAME`	SPK only	Display name in Package Center
`CHANGELOG`	SPK only	Changes in this version

Dependencies¶

Build Dependencies¶

Variable	Description
`DEPENDS`	Cross packages to build/include
`BUILD_DEPENDS`	Packages needed only for building
`NATIVE_DEPENDS`	Native tools needed for building

# Include these in the SPK
DEPENDS = cross/curl cross/openssl

# Only needed during build
BUILD_DEPENDS = native/cmake

SPK Dependencies¶

Variable	Description
`SPK_DEPENDS`	Other SPK packages required at runtime
`SPK_CONFLICT`	Packages that conflict with this one

# Requires WebStation to be installed
SPK_DEPENDS = "WebStation>=3.0"

# Cannot be installed alongside
SPK_CONFLICT = "transmission"

Build Configuration¶

These variables apply to cross/ package Makefiles.

Build System Selection¶

A cross package's build system is chosen by which mk/spksrc.cross-*.mk it includes; the arguments are then passed through the matching variable:

Build system	Include	Arguments variable
autotools	`spksrc.cross-cc.mk` + `GNU_CONFIGURE = 1`	`CONFIGURE_ARGS`
CMake	`spksrc.cross-cmake.mk`	`CONFIGURE_ARGS`
Meson	`spksrc.cross-meson.mk`	`CONFIGURE_ARGS` (passed to `meson setup`)

All three build systems also honour ADDITIONAL_CONFIGURE_ARGS, appended right after CONFIGURE_ARGS on the configure/cmake/meson setup command line. It is never set by the framework. Prefer CONFIGURE_ARGS +=; reach for ADDITIONAL_CONFIGURE_ARGS only when a package reuses CONFIGURE_ARGS for its own extra configure invocations and needs args that go to the framework's invocation only (see cross/x265, whose 10/12-bit sub-builds share CONFIGURE_ARGS but must not receive the final-build link flags).

# autotools
GNU_CONFIGURE = 1
CONFIGURE_ARGS = --enable-shared --disable-static
CONFIGURE_ARGS += --with-ssl=$(STAGING_INSTALL_PREFIX)

include ../../mk/spksrc.cross-cc.mk

# Meson (CONFIGURE_ARGS is forwarded to `meson setup`)
CONFIGURE_ARGS = -Dtests=disabled

include ../../mk/spksrc.cross-meson.mk

Compiler Flags¶

Variable	Description
`ADDITIONAL_CFLAGS`	Extra C compiler flags
`ADDITIONAL_CXXFLAGS`	Extra C++ compiler flags
`ADDITIONAL_CPPFLAGS`	Extra preprocessor flags
`ADDITIONAL_LDFLAGS`	Extra linker flags

ADDITIONAL_CFLAGS = -O3 -DNDEBUG
ADDITIONAL_LDFLAGS = -Wl,-rpath,/var/packages/mypackage/target/lib

Compile and Install Arguments¶

COMPILE_ARGS and INSTALL_ARGS carry extra arguments for the compile and install steps across every build system. For autotools / plain GNU make each is the make command; for CMake and Meson they are appended as-is to cmake --build / cmake --install and ninja / ninja install respectively.

On the classic gnu-make build path only (not CMake or Meson) both variables have a sensible default when a package leaves them unset, so package-specific make routines can reference them directly:

COMPILE_ARGS defaults to -j$(NCPUS) (parallel jobs).
INSTALL_ARGS defaults to install DESTDIR=$(INSTALL_DIR) prefix=$(INSTALL_PREFIX).

Variable	Description
`COMPILE_ARGS`	Extra arguments for the compile step (make / cmake --build / ninja); defaults to `-j$(NCPUS)` on the make path
`INSTALL_ARGS`	Extra arguments for the install step (make / cmake --install / ninja install); defaults to `install DESTDIR=$(INSTALL_DIR) prefix=$(INSTALL_PREFIX)` on the make path
`INSTALL_TARGET`	Make target for installation (default: install)

COMPILE_ARGS = V=1
INSTALL_ARGS = install-strip DESTDIR=$(INSTALL_DIR)

Service Configuration¶

These variables apply to spk/ package Makefiles.

Variable	Description
`STARTABLE`	`yes` if package has a service to start
`SERVICE_USER`	`auto` to create `sc-<packagename>` user (required for DSM 7)
`SERVICE_SETUP`	Path to service-setup.sh
`SERVICE_PORT`	Port used by the service
`SERVICE_PORT_TITLE`	Label for the port
`SERVICE_WIZARD_SHARENAME`	Wizard share variable for shared folder
`FWPORTS`	Path to firewall port configuration file
`SPK_COMMANDS`	List of `bin/command` paths for `/usr/local/bin` symlinks

STARTABLE = yes
SERVICE_USER = auto
SERVICE_SETUP = src/service-setup.sh
SERVICE_PORT = 8080
SERVICE_PORT_TITLE = Web Interface

# Firewall ports (creates resource entry)
FWPORTS = src/mypackage.sc

# Commands to link to /usr/local/bin
SPK_COMMANDS = bin/mycommand bin/myother

Architecture Support¶

Variable	Description
`UNSUPPORTED_ARCHS`	Architectures that cannot build this package
`REQUIRED_MIN_DSM`	Minimum DSM version required
`OS_MIN_VER`	Minimum OS version (alternative to above)

# Only works on 64-bit
UNSUPPORTED_ARCHS = $(32bit_ARCHS)

# Requires DSM 7.0+
REQUIRED_MIN_DSM = 7.0

Architecture Groups¶

spksrc provides groups such as x64_ARCHS, ARMv7_ARCHS, ARMv8_ARCHS, ARM_ARCHS, PPC_ARCHS, 32bit_ARCHS and 64bit_ARCHS. The complete, authoritative list (with the platform codenames each contains) is in Reference: Architectures.

Use them in ifeq to enable code per architecture. The groups are available after including a spksrc entry point (or spksrc.common.mk):

include ../../mk/spksrc.common.mk

# Only build a feature on 64-bit targets
ifeq ($(findstring $(ARCH),$(64bit_ARCHS)),$(ARCH))
CONFIGURE_ARGS += --enable-feature
endif

# x64-only dependency
ifneq ($(findstring $(ARCH),$(x64_ARCHS)),)
DEPENDS += cross/intel-media-driver
endif

# Exclude a whole family from the build
UNSUPPORTED_ARCHS = $(PPC_ARCHS) $(ARMv5_ARCHS)

Version Conditions¶

The version_* macros gate code on a toolchain (or any version) — they return 1 when true:

include ../../mk/spksrc.common.mk

# Newer toolchains only
ifeq ($(call version_ge,$(TC_GCC),12),1)
DEPENDS += cross/libplacebo
endif

# Workaround for old compilers
ifeq ($(call version_lt,$(TC_GCC),5.0),1)
ADDITIONAL_CFLAGS += -std=gnu99
endif

Path Variables (Available During Build)¶

Variable	Description
`WORK_DIR`	Package work directory
`PKG_DIR`	Extracted source directory
`INSTALL_DIR`	Installation destination
`STAGING_INSTALL_PREFIX`	Path prefix for installed files
`INSTALL_PREFIX`	Runtime prefix on NAS

SPK-Specific Variables¶

Variable	Description
`ADMIN_PORT`	Port for admin interface
`ADMIN_PROTOCOL`	Protocol (http/https) for admin interface
`ADMIN_URL`	Custom admin URL path

ADMIN_PORT = 8080
ADMIN_PROTOCOL = http
ADMIN_URL = /mypackage

Web Interface Shortcuts¶

Packages with web interfaces can add a shortcut icon to the DSM main menu. For the complete list of variables, see the Makefile Reference.

Automatic Generation (Recommended)¶

Use SERVICE_PORT to automatically generate the shortcut:

DSM_UI_DIR = app
SERVICE_PORT = 8096
SERVICE_PORT_TITLE = My App (HTTP)
ADMIN_PORT = $(SERVICE_PORT)

Custom Configuration¶

For custom URL paths or descriptions, create src/app/config:

{
    ".url": {
        "com.synocommunity.packages.<pkgname>": {
            "title": "Package Name",
            "desc": "Tooltip description",
            "icon": "images/<pkgname>-{0}.png",
            "type": "url",
            "protocol": "http",
            "port": "8080",
            "url": "/admin",
            "allUsers": true
        }
    }
}

Point DSM_UI_CONFIG at that file — the framework installs it as the package's app/config, overriding the auto-generated one:

DSM_UI_DIR = app
DSM_UI_CONFIG = src/app/config
ADMIN_PORT = 8080
ADMIN_URL = /admin