Alpine WDMCH Builder
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CI

A reproducible build system for creating a USB Rescue Boot image for the single-bay WD My Cloud Home (Realtek RTD1295, 4× Cortex-A53, 1 GiB RAM).

Overview
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This project builds a complete USB rescue environment:

  • Kernel: symops/monarch-6.18 (Linux 6.18.x, ARM64)
  • Rootfs: Alpine aarch64 minirootfs with Dropbear SSH + DHCP
  • Boot: Raw patched ARM64 Image + WDMCH DTB
  • Rescue: Standalone initramfs with optional kexec handoff

Architecture
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vendor ROM/BL31/U-Boot
    -> WDMCH rescue kernel
    -> Alpine rescue userspace
       -> shell / DHCP / SSH
       -> optional kexec full Alpine kernel

Quick Start
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# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/dominicusin/alpine-wdmch-builder.git
cd alpine-wdmch-builder
./build-image.sh

# Or dry-run to validate setup
./build-image.sh --dry-run

Project Structure
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config/          - Source locks and build configuration
kernel/          - Kernel fetch, build, and patch scripts
dtb/             - Device tree build and validation
rootfs/          - Alpine rescue rootfs build scripts
image/           - USB rescue artifact packaging
tools/           - Host-side validation tools
tests/           - Repository validation tests
docs/            - Documentation
.github/workflows/ - CI/CD pipelines

Key Files
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FileDescription
sata.uImagePatched raw ARM64 kernel Image + padding
rescue.sata.dtbWDMCH device tree blob
rescue.root.sata.cpio.gz_pad.imgAlpine rescue initramfs
SHA256SUMSChecksums for all release artifacts
manifest.jsonBuild metadata and artifact manifest

Source References
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See docs/SOURCES.md for full source classification.

License
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MIT License — see LICENSE.

Warnings
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  • DO NOT boot GOLD partition — it is a factory-reset appliance, not a safe fallback
  • DO NOT write A/B/GOLD slots as part of this project
  • DO back up any existing WDMCH firmware table before future flashing work
  • This is a rescue boot tool; it does not overwrite NAS firmware
  • No private SSH key is stored anywhere in this repository or its artifacts

License
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MIT License

Copyright (c) 2026 dominicusin

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.