Forum: GNU Radio Re: GNU Radio release 3.6.3 available for download

Alex,

You said:

> Thanks for the tip - I will try to rebuild using gcc later and see
> what difference it makes. For now I am happy that after installing
> gnuradio, I could install the rtl-sdr and gr-osmosdr packages, and
> since I already had Qt 4.8 installed I could also build gqrx without
> major issues.

Sounds like you have had general success on Mac OS X.


I have been trying the following:

    sudo port install gnuradio +full  configure.compiler=llvm-gcc-4.2
    sudo port select --set python python27

    volk_profile

    sudo port install rtl-sdr

    rtl_test -t

All with success, the only hardware I have right now is the DTV tuner. 
Success except the following...


What I am having trouble with is getting gr-osmosdr installed.   I did 
not see it in macports so I tried from the rtl-sdr site:

git clone git://git.osmocom.org/gr-osmosdr
cd gr-osmosdr/
mkdir build
cd build/
cmake ../
make
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig

The last command 'ldconfig' is not supported on the Mac.

When I do this it ends up in /usr/local instead of /opt/local for 
macports.  I changed one of the make files and got it to copy over to 
/opt/local instead.

My problem is the new sources do not show up in gnuradio-companion. 
Maybe I did something out of order.  Maybe missing something.


How did you successfully install rtl-sdr and gr-osmosdr in the Mac and 
working with gnu radio-companion?

Thanks,
mlk

PS: Thanks to michaelld for becoming active in maintaining current 
versions in macports again!

On Sat, Jan 12, 2013 at 8:19 PM, Michael L Kornegay
<mlk@mlksys.atlanta.ga.us> wrote:
>
>     sudo port install rtl-sdr
> git clone git://git.osmocom.org/gr-osmosdr
>
> When I do this it ends up in /usr/local instead of /opt/local for macports.
> I changed one of the make files and got it to copy over to /opt/local
> instead.
>
> My problem is the new sources do not show up in gnuradio-companion.  Maybe I
> did something out of order.  Maybe missing something.
>
> How did you successfully install rtl-sdr and gr-osmosdr in the Mac and
> working with gnu radio-companion?

Hi Michael,

I didn't realize rtl-sdr was in macports, so I installed both of them
from source. It should be fine from macports though as long as it
doesn't get too old compared to gr-osmosdr. In order to have
gr-osmosdr installed in /opt/local I use:

$ cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/opt/local ..

Be sure to uninstall the other first - having multiple copies of the
same library installed is very bad.

After installing rtl-sdr and gr-osmosdr I could compile gqrx but to
make it run I had to copy the rtl-sdr and gr-osmosdr libraries to the
same directory where gqrx.app was located. I suppose there is
something incorrect with the linker commands - I didn't have time to
look at it.

I only installed the minimal gnuradio whithout python and
gnuradio-companion. You probably need to add a path to the grc
configuration (I believe it's explained in the wiki).

Alex

Hi Michael - I'm glad you're having success with at least the MacPorts 
part of things; and, thanks! I'm glad to be back on top of UHD and GNU 
Radio within MacPorts again.  Alexandru Csete already replied about what 
he has done with regard to your questions about gr-osmosdr and rtl-sdr; 
so, I won't replicate those.  Let me instead discuss the non-MacPorts 
parts a bit here; this is generic advice regarding developing on the 
UNIX-y side of Mac OS X.

* I highly recommend you NOT install non-MacPorts files into your 
MacPorts prefix (by default, /opt/local).  Just good programming 
practice, and there are environment variables available for handling 
this situation.

* I highly recommend installing non-MacPorts files into /usr/local when 
doing so by hand.  That's generally the purpose of this directory on Mac 
OS X -- extra non-system stuff.  But, really, you can use pretty much 
any directory that is non-system, and then set environment variables to 
access everything.

* For Python, you can use the PYTHONPATH environment variable to tell it 
where to look for installed scripts.  For example, if you have scripts 
installed into /usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages, you could tell 
Python to look there via executing the following in your shell (e.g., 
adding it to your ~/.bashrc file):

  export PYTHONPATH=/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages:${PYTHONPATH}

* To find executables, you set the PATH variable to include the 
directory/ies you want.  PATH is often already pre-set with the usual 
places, so you'll want to add to it:

  export PATH=${PATH}:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin

* Each executable can have its own set of environment variables to allow 
access to specific external files.  You need to check it's source code 
or manpages or help files for specifics.

* Mac OS X does not use "ldconfig" or the like.  You just use what's 
installed by setting PATH and maybe other environment variables, and 
they refer to what each executable and/or library needs internally, 
which allows the dynamic library loader to do its thing.

* I highly recommend NOT using the DYLD_* environment variables as a 
standard part of your shell environment.  These work well for testing 
after a project has been built but before it is installed.  But, setting 
one of them will invariably end up messing up some executable sooner or 
later; and, you won't have any idea why  (or, that's my experience).

I hope this helps! - MLD