# When Modifying a Block Do We Have to Recompile Everything? **URL:** \ **Category:** GNU Radio\ **Created:** [August 27, 2012, 2:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/when-modifying-a-block-do-we-have-to-recompile-everything/222393 "2012-08-27T14:01:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aris](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@aris](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/aris)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 2:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/when-modifying-a-block-do-we-have-to-recompile-everything/222393/1 "2012-08-27T14:01:48Z")
HI, I wanted to modify a block and use it. Will I have to recompile everything or can I just use it without compiling? I’m still new to Linux, so if I need to compile can someone provide a link to some instructions to do so? Thanks, Frederick ---
**Author:** ![ric](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@ric](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ric)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 2:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/when-modifying-a-block-do-we-have-to-recompile-everything/222393/2 "2012-08-27T14:02:00Z")
On Tue, Aug 21, 2012 at 2:27 PM, Frederick L. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > HI, > > I wanted to modify a block and use it. Will I have to recompile everything > or can I just use it without compiling? > I’m still new to Linux, so if I need to compile can someone provide a link > to some instructions to do so? > > Thanks, > > Frederick Frederick, You will have to recompile and reinstall, but not everything. If you are modifying a single block, you can just rebuild from that components directory. You want to do the entire component to make sure SWIG is initiated again to rebuild the Python interface. But this is much quicker than rebuilding from the top source directory that would walk through all directories (it won’t rebuild them, but the walking takes time). So if you are changing a block in gr-digital, you can just: cd gr-digital make make test (or ctest) sudo make install Tom ---
**Author:** ![ric](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@ric](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ric)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 7:05am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/when-modifying-a-block-do-we-have-to-recompile-everything/222393/3 "2012-08-28T07:05:38Z")
On Tue, Aug 21, 2012 at 2:53 PM, Frederick L. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)wrote: > > > > Thanks a lot Tom. It’s great to know that I don’t have to go through all > the directories because I was using the gnuradio\_build option on the > build-gnuradio script to rebuild and it takes some time to complete. 🙂 > > Thanks again > > Frederick > > Sorry for posting again, but when I try the above instructions the make > command fails. The error I get it this: make: \*\*\* No targets specified and no makefile found. Stop. Does the build-gnuradio script put makefiles into the directories for you? If not, is it possible to get the makefile else where or find a way around it? ---
**Author:** ![ric](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@ric](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ric)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 7:06am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/when-modifying-a-block-do-we-have-to-recompile-everything/222393/4 "2012-08-28T07:06:15Z")
On Tue, Aug 21, 2012 at 3:45 PM, Frederick L. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)wrote: > > > SWIG is initiated again to rebuild the Python interface. But this is > > > > Sorry for posting again, but when I try the above instructions the make > > command fails. The error I get it this: > > make: \*\*\* No targets specified and no makefile found. Stop. > > Does the build-gnuradio script put makefiles into the directories for you? > If not, is it possible to get the makefile else where or find a way around > it? > > Nevermind, I found the correct directory. I was looking in the > gnuradio/gr-digital directroy instead of the gnuradio/build/gr-digital > directory.