# Volk issues on 32-bit hardware?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/volk-issues-on-32-bit-hardware/234482>\
**Category:** GNU Radio\
**Created:** [March 8, 2015, 8:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/volk-issues-on-32-bit-hardware/234482 "2015-03-08T08:25:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![addis\_a](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@addis\_a](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/addis_a)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 8:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/volk-issues-on-32-bit-hardware/234482/1 "2015-03-08T08:25:16Z")

</div>

I’ve a user who’s trying to install my simple\_ra code. It builds just  
fine, but upon running, runs into a linker error involving VOLK:

raceback (most recent call last):  
File “/home/peter/bin/simple\_ra\_receiver.py”, line 23, in   
from grc\_gnuradio import blks2 as grc\_blks2  
File  
“/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/grc\_gnuradio/blks2/ **init**.py”,  
line 22, in   
from packet import options, packet\_encoder, packet\_decoder,   
File  
“/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/grc\_gnuradio/blks2/packet.py”,  
line 21, in   
from gnuradio import gr, digital  
File  
“/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gnuradio/digital/ **init**.py”,  
line 34, in   
from digital\_swig import \*  
File  
“/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gnuradio/digital/digital\_swig.py”,  
line 28, in   
\_digital\_swig = swig\_import\_helper()  
File  
“/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gnuradio/digital/digital\_swig.py”,  
line 24, in swig\_import\_helper  
\_mod = imp.load\_module(’\_digital\_swig’, fp, pathname, description)  
ImportError: /usr/local/lib/libgnuradio-digital-3.7.6.1.so.0.0.0:  
undefined symbol: volk\_32f\_binary\_slicer\_8i

This is a 32-bit install of Ubuntu 14.04, I don’t know exactly what type  
of hardware.

I vaguely recall noise about 32-bit VOLK installs becoming confused, but  
I can’t find that thread.

They installed using build-gnuradio, and that apparently worked just  
fine (or, at least, didn’t fail to the point that build-gnuradio  
noticed).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Marcus\_DSLeech](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Marcus\_DSLeech](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marcus_DSLeech)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 5:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/volk-issues-on-32-bit-hardware/234482/2 "2015-03-08T17:14:07Z")

</div>

The recent 32-bit noise was related to a bad ifdef fence in a puppet.  
That  
would show up in VOLK builds, but never at runtime.

The kernel in question volk\_32f\_binary\_slicer\_8 came in to existence  
this  
past August or September, which is relatively new in terms of volk  
kernels.

Here are my hunches on the culprit:

1. this is a case of an incomplete uninstall/reinstall of GNU Radio  
where  
libvolk wasn’t removed/replaced, but the gr binary slicer block was.

2. there are multiple libvolks in different prefixes. An old one is  
getting  
picked up at runtime

I’ll be very surprised if there aren’t multiple versions of libvolk  
living in ld library paths

-Nathan

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Marcus\_DSLeech](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Marcus\_DSLeech](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marcus_DSLeech)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 6:21pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/volk-issues-on-32-bit-hardware/234482/3 "2015-03-08T18:21:38Z")

</div>

On 03/08/2015 12:11 PM, West, Nathan wrote:

> where libvolk wasn’t removed/replaced, but the gr binary slicer block was.
> 
> 1. there are multiple libvolks in different prefixes. An old one is  
> getting picked up at runtime
> 
> I’ll be very surprised if there aren’t multiple versions of libvolk  
> living in ld library paths
> 
> -Nathan  
> OK, cool.

It runs out that this is actually 64-bit hardware, so he’s going to go  
off and install a 64-bit OS instance on it, then try again. This should  
be  
a “virgin” system when he layers Gnu Radio on top of it.