Notes about everything...: Compile and run shellinabox

I bought one beaglebone black, It has a nice IDE called Cloud9. One great feature of this IDE that runs entirely in a browser is allow access to shell. I was amused by access shell on a browser. I was thinking if there's no any open source system to do the same in GConnect, then I found Shell In a Box.

Take a look in the project at: https://code.google.com/p/shellinabox/

The project keeps a lot of pre compiled versions. One compiled to ARM compatible with Raspberry pi - ARMv6. Our hardware is ARMv5, so it's necessary compile from the sources.

1- Installing the pre requirements:

# ipkg install gcc

# ipkg install gawk

# ipkg install libtool

# ipkg install coreutils

# ipkg install make

2- Download and expand the source:

# mkdir /opt/shellinabox

# cd /opt/shellinabox

# wget https://shellinabox.googlecode.com/files/shellinabox-2.14.tar.gz

# tar zxpvf shellinabox-2.14.tar.gz

# cd shellinabox-2.14

3- Starting the pre compilation process - ./configure :

To compile a source, basically it's necessary run:

# ./configure

# make

I didn't face any problem running ./configure, just run and wait.

# ./configure

checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c

checking whether build environment is sane... yes

checking for a thread-safe mkdir -p... /bin/mkdir -p

checking for gawk... gawk

checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes

checking for gcc... gcc

checking whether the C compiler works... yes

checking for C compiler default output file name... a.out

checking for suffix of executables...

checking whether we are cross compiling... no

checking for suffix of object files... o

checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... yes

checking whether gcc accepts -g... yes

checking for gcc option to accept ISO C89... none needed

checking for style of include used by make... GNU

checking dependency style of gcc... gcc3

checking build system type... armv5tel-unknown-linux-gnueabi

checking host system type... armv5tel-unknown-linux-gnueabi

checking for a sed that does not truncate output... /bin/sed

checking for grep that handles long lines and -e... /bin/grep

checking for egrep... /bin/grep -E

checking for fgrep... /bin/grep -F

checking for ld used by gcc... /mnt/eSata/root/opt/arm-none-linux-gnueabi/bin/ld

checking if the linker (/mnt/eSata/root/opt/arm-none-linux-gnueabi/bin/ld) is GNU ld... yes

checking for BSD- or MS-compatible name lister (nm)... /usr/bin/nm -B

checking the name lister (/usr/bin/nm -B) interface... BSD nm

checking whether ln -s works... yes

checking the maximum length of command line arguments... 98304

checking whether the shell understands some XSI constructs... yes

checking whether the shell understands "+="... yes

checking for /mnt/eSata/root/opt/arm-none-linux-gnueabi/bin/ld option to reload object files... -r

checking for objdump... objdump

checking how to recognize dependent libraries... pass_all

checking for ar... ar

checking for strip... strip

checking for ranlib... ranlib

checking command to parse /usr/bin/nm -B output from gcc object... ok

checking how to run the C preprocessor... gcc -E

checking for ANSI C header files... yes

checking for sys/types.h... yes

checking for sys/stat.h... yes

checking for stdlib.h... yes

checking for string.h... yes

checking for memory.h... yes

checking for strings.h... yes

checking for inttypes.h... yes

checking for stdint.h... yes

checking for unistd.h... yes

checking for dlfcn.h... yes

checking for objdir... .libs

checking if gcc supports -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions... no

checking for gcc option to produce PIC... -fPIC -DPIC

checking if gcc PIC flag -fPIC -DPIC works... yes

checking if gcc static flag -static works... no

checking if gcc supports -c -o file.o... yes

checking if gcc supports -c -o file.o... (cached) yes

checking whether the gcc linker (/mnt/eSata/root/opt/arm-none-linux-gnueabi/bin/ld) supports shared libraries... yes

checking whether -lc should be explicitly linked in... no

checking dynamic linker characteristics... GNU/Linux ld.so

checking how to hardcode library paths into programs... immediate

checking whether stripping libraries is possible... yes

checking if libtool supports shared libraries... yes

checking whether to build shared libraries... yes

checking whether to build static libraries... yes

checking for an ANSI C-conforming const... yes

checking whether gcc needs -traditional... no

checking libutil.h usability... no

checking libutil.h presence... no

checking for libutil.h... no

checking pthread.h usability... yes

checking pthread.h presence... yes

checking for pthread.h... yes

checking pty.h usability... yes

checking pty.h presence... yes

checking for pty.h... yes

checking for strings.h... (cached) yes

checking sys/prctl.h usability... yes

checking sys/prctl.h presence... yes

checking for sys/prctl.h... yes

checking sys/uio.h usability... yes

checking sys/uio.h presence... yes

checking for sys/uio.h... yes

checking util.h usability... no

checking util.h presence... no

checking for util.h... no

checking utmp.h usability... yes

checking utmp.h presence... yes

checking for utmp.h... yes

checking utmpx.h usability... yes

checking utmpx.h presence... yes

checking for utmpx.h... yes

checking for login_tty... no

checking for login_tty in -lutil... yes

checking for strlcat... no

checking for getgrgid_r... yes

checking for getgrnam_r... yes

checking for gethostbyname_r... yes

checking for getpwnam_r... yes

checking for getpwuid_r... yes

checking for openpty... yes

checking for strcasestr... yes

checking for getresuid... yes

checking for getresgid... yes

checking for setresuid... yes

checking for setresgid... yes

checking openssl/bio.h usability... no

checking openssl/bio.h presence... no

checking for openssl/bio.h... no

checking openssl/err.h usability... no

checking openssl/err.h presence... no

checking for openssl/err.h... no

checking openssl/ssl.h usability... no

checking openssl/ssl.h presence... no

checking for openssl/ssl.h... no

checking security/pam_appl.h usability... no

checking security/pam_appl.h presence... no

checking for security/pam_appl.h... no

checking security/pam_client.h usability... no

checking security/pam_client.h presence... no

checking for security/pam_client.h... no

checking security/pam_misc.h usability... no

checking security/pam_misc.h presence... no

checking for security/pam_misc.h... no

checking for dlopen... no

checking for dlopen in -ldl... yes

checking for deflate in -lz... yes

checking zlib.h usability... yes

checking zlib.h presence... yes

checking for zlib.h... yes

configure: creating ./config.status

config.status: creating Makefile

config.status: creating config.h

config.status: executing depfiles commands

config.status: executing libtool commands

3- Starting the compilation process - make :

Probably when you run the make, you'll face a error about libtool. It's a path problem.

bash-3.2# make

od shellinabox/beep.wav >shellinabox/beep.h

od shellinabox/cgi_root.html >shellinabox/cgi_root.h

od shellinabox/enabled.gif >shellinabox/enabled.h

od shellinabox/favicon.ico >shellinabox/favicon.h

od shellinabox/keyboard.png >shellinabox/keyboard.h

od shellinabox/keyboard-layout.html >shellinabox/keyboard-layout.h

od shellinabox/print-styles.css >shellinabox/print-styles.h

od shellinabox/root_page.html >shellinabox/root_page.h

od shellinabox/shell_in_a_box.js >shellinabox/shell_in_a_box.h

od shellinabox/styles.css >shellinabox/styles.h

od shellinabox/vt100.js >shellinabox/vt100.h

make all-am

make[1]: Entering directory `/mnt/eSata/root/opt/shellinabox/shellinabox-2.14'

/bin/sh ./libtool --tag=CC --mode=compile gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -g -std=gnu99 -Wall -Os -MT hashmap.lo -MD -MP -MF .deps/hashmap.Tpo -c -o hashmap.lo `test -f 'libhttp/hashmap.c' || echo './'`libhttp/hashmap.c

./libtool: ./libtool: cannot execute binary file

make[1]: *** [hashmap.lo] Error 126

make[1]: Leaving directory `/mnt/eSata/root/opt/shellinabox/shellinabox-2.14'

make: *** [all] Error 2

3.1- Change Makefile to the right libtool:

The libtool that comes with the source does not work well, but we already installed the right one using ipkg in the beginning of this tutorial. Now let's set this in Makefile.

Comment this line and create the follow one:

# vi Makefile

Comment the line below:

# LIBTOOL = $(SHELL) $(top_builddir)/libtool

And create a entry to the right libtool:

LIBTOOL = /opt/bin/libtool

Save and re run make.

bash-3.2# make

make all-am

make[1]: Entering directory `/mnt/eSata/root/opt/shellinabox/shellinabox-2.10'

/opt/bin/libtool --tag=CC --mode=link gcc -g -std=gnu99 -Wall -Os -export-symbols ./libhttp/libhttp.sym -version 1:0:0 -o libhttp.la hashmap.lo trie.lo httpconnection.lo server.lo ssl.lo url.lo -lz -ldl -lutil

/home/slug/optware/cs08q1armel/toolchain/arm-2008q1/bin/arm-none-linux-gnueabi-ar cru .libs/libhttp.a .libs/hashmap.o .libs/trie.o .libs/httpconnection.o .libs/server.o .libs/ssl.o .libs/url.o

/opt/bin/libtool: line 5999: /home/slug/optware/cs08q1armel/toolchain/arm-2008q1/bin/arm-none-linux-gnueabi-ar: No such file or directory

make[1]: *** [libhttp.la] Error 127

make[1]: Leaving directory `/mnt/eSata/root/opt/shellinabox/shellinabox-2.10'

make: *** [all] Error 2

Now you'll probably face another path problem. this time: arm-none-linux-gnueabi-ar

3.2 - Solve the arm-none-linux-gnueabi-ar path problem:

The easiest way is create this directory structure and create a symbolic link to a ar binary.

# mkdir -p /home/slug/optware/cs08q1armel/toolchain/arm-2008q1/bin/

# which ar

# ln -s /usr/bin/ar /home/slug/optware/cs08q1armel/toolchain/arm-2008q1/bin/arm-none-linux-gnueabi-ar

Then re run make.

bash-3.2# make

make all-am

make[1]: Entering directory `/mnt/eSata/root/opt/shellinabox/shellinabox-2.10'

/home/slug/optware/cs08q1armel/toolchain/arm-2008q1/bin/arm-none-linux-gnueabi-ar cru .libs/libhttp.a .libs/hashmap.o .libs/trie.o .libs/httpconnection.o .libs/server.o .libs/ssl.o .libs/url.o

/home/slug/optware/cs08q1armel/toolchain/arm-2008q1/bin/arm-none-linux-gnueabi-ranlib .libs/libhttp.a

/opt/bin/libtool: line 5999: /home/slug/optware/cs08q1armel/toolchain/arm-2008q1/bin/arm-none-linux-gnueabi-ranlib: No such file or directory

make[1]: *** [libhttp.la] Error 127

make[1]: Leaving directory `/mnt/eSata/root/opt/shellinabox/shellinabox-2.10'

make: *** [all] Error 2

bash-3.2# ranlib

Now you'll probably face another path problem. this time: arm-none-linux-gnueabi-ranlib

3.3 - Solve the arm-none-linux-gnueabi-ranlib path problem:

Same solution:

# which ranlib

# ln -s /usr/bin/ranlib /home/slug/optware/cs08q1armel/toolchain/arm-2008q1/bin/arm-none-linux-gnueabi-ranlib

Then re run make and the code will compile flawlessly.

OBS: As the flash of GConnect is pretty small, I didn't run make install script. I prefer keep the binaries and the source together in the hard drive and call the binaries using the full path.

4 - Testing the shellinabox

# ./shellinaboxd -s/:LOGIN -t --no-beep

Open a browser and open http://gconnect.local:4200 (or substitute gconnect.local by your GConnect IP)

Optional - Put the shellinabox to start automatically

I include this line in my /root/rc.local

# Start shell in a box http://gconnect.local:4200

/opt/shellinabox/shellinabox-2.14/shellinaboxd -s/:LOGIN -t --no-beep --css=/opt/shellinabox/shellinabox-2.14/shellinabox/white-on-black.css -b

=/opt/shellinabox/shellinabox-2.14/shellinaboxd.pid

I include some preferences in this start as: Black on White profile (letters in white, back in black) and creation of PID file inside the source directory.

OBS: All command is in the same line.

Compile and run shellinabox - Open SSH in a browser