Ctrl-port port lottery

GNU Radio
1

Greetings,

I started to play with the gr-ctrl-port examples today and I noticed
that every time I execute pfb_sync_test or pfb_sync_test-qt grc
scripts they use a different port number. Is that intentional?

I also noticed that the gr-ctrl-port stuff got installed without
problems, despite that I didn’t have python-zeroc-ice package
installed so a check seems to be missing in the cmake files.

Otherwise it looks very promising and is exactly what I need for one
of my projects.

Alex

2

On Thu, Jan 31, 2013 at 11:22 AM, Alexandru C. [email protected]
wrote:

Greetings,

I started to play with the gr-ctrl-port examples today and I noticed
that every time I execute pfb_sync_test or pfb_sync_test-qt grc
scripts they use a different port number. Is that intentional?

This is the default behavior, yes. On my list of things to do is more
strongly integrate a config file concept with ControlPort, of which
setting
the port will be one of the parameters. I’m sure you’re asking because
constantly having to know which port you’ve randomly set up is kind of
annoying. But really, it’s the right behavior if you don’t have anything
else specifically telling it for your machine. Definitely on the short
list
of things to do.

I also noticed that the gr-ctrl-port stuff got installed without
problems, despite that I didn’t have python-zeroc-ice package
installed so a check seems to be missing in the cmake files.

That’s only partially problematic, but thanks for pointing it out. There
are a few things that we don’t check for that are used, actually.
Specifically, these we don’t check for all possible Python packages when
they are only used in example files.

Having said that, here’s my thoughts. We shouldn’t stop the installation
of
ControlPort if the Python ICE package is not found. You don’t need it to
run GNU Radio apps with ControlPort and you can develop clients in many
other languages. On the other hand, since gr-ctrlport-monitor uses
Python’s
ICE package and we run slice2py, we need to check for this and not run
slice2py or install gr-ctrlport-monitor if the Python package is not
there.

Otherwise it looks very promising and is exactly what I need for one
of my projects.

Alex

Great! Feedback like this is great, too. Helps us know how things are
being
used or want to be used to fill in things like this.

Thanks!
Tom

3

On Fri, Feb 1, 2013 at 4:37 AM, Tom R. [email protected] wrote:

the port will be one of the parameters. I’m sure you’re asking because
constantly having to know which port you’ve randomly set up is kind of
annoying. But really, it’s the right behavior if you don’t have anything
else specifically telling it for your machine. Definitely on the short list
of things to do.

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the reply. Indeed, I was asking because I had to restart
the client with the new port number every time. If it will be possible
to specify the port number later it’ll be great, but there is no hurry
from my side.

ControlPort if the Python ICE package is not found. You don’t need it to run
GNU Radio apps with ControlPort and you can develop clients in many other
languages. On the other hand, since gr-ctrlport-monitor uses Python’s ICE
package and we run slice2py, we need to check for this and not run slice2py
or install gr-ctrlport-monitor if the Python package is not there.

I see your point and I agree; a missing python package should not
prevent the C++ part to be installed.

Alex