Install and Use p910nd on Unraid 7.x

This guide explains how to install p910nd on your Unraid server, since it’s not available in the Community Apps Store.

Introduction

After some searching, I found this post on the Unraid Forum, but unfortunately the attached file is no longer available.
So here is how to build & install p910nd yourself:

Building p910nd

1. Create a build directory & the Dockerfile

Let’s start by building the p910nd binary inside a lightweight Docker container.

mkdir -p /boot/custom/build/p910nd
cd /boot/custom/build/p910nd

cat <<'EOF' > Dockerfile
FROM alpine:latest
RUN apk add --no-cache build-base git
WORKDIR /src
RUN git clone https://github.com/kenyapcomau/p910nd
WORKDIR /src/p910nd
RUN make CFLAGS="-static" LDFLAGS="-static"
CMD ["cp", "p910nd", "/out/p910nd"]
EOF

2. Build the Docker image

docker build -t p910nd-builder .

3. Run the container to extract the compiled binary

mkdir -p /boot/custom/bin
docker run --rm -v /boot/custom/bin:/out p910nd-builder

The compiled binary is now available at /boot/custom/bin/p910nd.

Installing p910nd (persistent)

By default, Unraid boots from a flash drive and loads the OS into RAM.
Because of this, we need to ensure the binary is copied into the live system and started automatically at every boot. We can achieve this by editing our /boot/config/go file.

1. Add the following to /boot/config/go

cp /boot/custom/bin/p910nd /usr/local/bin/p910nd
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/p910nd
/usr/local/bin/p910nd -f /dev/usb/lp0 -b

This copies the binary, make it executable and starts it.
-f specifies the USB printer device (e.g. /dev/usb/lp0)
-b runs the daemon in the background.

Your Unraid system should now automatically start p910nd on boot, making your printer available over the network.

2. Reboot Unraid

Check if p910nd is running correctly

Verify that p910nd is running

# pgrep -a p910nd
4978 /usr/local/bin/p9100d -f /dev/usb/lp0 -b

# ss -tlnp | grep 9100
LISTEN 0      5       0.0.0.0:9100       0.0.0.0:*    users:(("p910nd",pid=4978,fd=4))

Test Print

You can send a test print through p910nd using:
echo "Hello World!" | nc UNRAIDSERVERIP 9100

In Unraid, under Tools → System Log, you should see something like:

Nov  1 11:12:31 miniNAS p9100d[4975]: Connection from 192.168.10.26 port 58628 accepted
Nov  1 11:12:31 miniNAS p9100d[4975]: Finished job: 13/13 bytes sent to printer, 0/0 bytes sent to network