Do I need to use jails to install a simple program?

[Joe Goldthwaite]

Hi,

I'm trying to speed up rsync using the suggestion here. It uses a program called GNU parallel. It's not on FreeNAS but I figured I could probably install it. I found a FreeBSD port here. I tried to install it with the command;

Code:

 pkg install parallel

The command came back with this;

Code:

Updating local repository catalogue...
pkg: file:///usr/ports/packages/meta.txz: No such file or directory
pkg: repository local has no meta file, using default settings
pkg: file:///usr/ports/packages/digests.txz: No such file or directory
pkg: Unable to update repository local
All repositories are up-to-date.
pkg: No packages available to install matching 'parallel' have been found in the repositories

I started a post on the FreeBSD forum about how to add access to whatever repository would have the parallel package but now I think this has something to do with the way FreeNAS handles things with jails. I understand that sometimes you need to virtualize things but I want the parallel command to be able to interact directly with rsync. Is there a way to install it without going through plugins or jails?

 

[SweetAndLow]

Yes you need to use a jail.

 

[Joe Goldthwaite]

But aren't jails used to restrict a process? Parallel is a system utility. I don't want it restricted. I want to be able to access all the files on the disk. Wouldn't installing it in a jail limit that?

 

[nightshade00013]

You really don't want to install something like that in the base system. You are basically asking for something to come in and eat your data. That is why the FreeNAS OS is basically loaded as read only, it prevents you from making changes that can be catastrophic.

Install it into a jail and attach storage that you want to be able to use it with. It will at the very least allow you to test your theory out which is the main goal right now anyway.

 

[pirateghost]

You are not supposed to install anything to the FreeNAS OS. Everything outside of the appliance that is FreeNAS should be done in jails. Period. Doesn't matter how "simple" an application is.

You can attach your storage to jails, so you can have full access to the disks.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Aside from any other concerns, if you install in the base system, you lose your changes with the next update.