Chris,
In response to your follow-up…
Regarding number three in your ordered list of tasks, you do not want to download the tarball (the file ending in xxx.tar.gz). You will need the itsy package (the file ending in xxx.ipk). Otherwise, you will need to build from scratch and that means installation of all of the build libraries and such – unless you have a Linux box upon which you can cross compile everything.
Regarding task number six, the slug will need to be uNSLUng, and a drive attached BEFORE you install the mt-daapd package. Packages are installed under the /opt/bin/ directory, which resides upon the external HD. (There seems to be a conflict between task two and task six – what do you mean by:
6. turn everything off, attach a disk, turn on.
?)
Backing up to cover task number four, it is not necessary to login to the slug as root – that is never a recommended activity on any system. However, you will need to be root in order to run the package installer. Simply elevate yourself to superuser status (issue su at the prompt and enter the root passwd) and run the package installer.
One follow-on to my earlier reply:
At the very least, I would suggest running the “ipkg update” command prior to installing the nightlies to ensure everything is otherwise up-to-date.
In addition to updating your feed list (e.g. ipkg update), I would recommend that you also upgrade against any changes in the catalogue (e.g. ipkg upgrade). That will ensure that you have the latest and greatest of all tools and utilities from the feeds.
Of course, if you do reflash from scratch, that will be the result anyway. I whooly agree with Ron on this topic; it is not necessary to reinitialize the the slug and unsling from scratch. That is simply making more, unnecessary work for yourself. Simply uninstalling the stable install of the daemon, updating the feed, upgrading the software and installing as desired from the nightlies should suffice.
Good Luck!
Herman