Re: GNU Radio release 3.6.3 available for download

GNU Radio
1

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!

2

On Sat, Jan 12, 2013 at 8:19 PM, Michael L Kornegay
[email protected] 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

3

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 C. 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