gqrx and airspy: gqrx hangs after a few seconds.

[Derk Tegeler]

Hi Alexandru,

gqrx (built from scratch on OSX Yosemite, gnuradio-3.7.3, gr-osmocom, gqrx-2.3.2-48-gf641) with airspy hang after a few seconds.

I can get a stable run with 2.5 MSPS and 10 MSPS with 'demod off'. WFM stereo works well, but as soon as I try NFM or AM, gqrx will hang and display OOOOOO on the command line.

This sounds similar to some of the problems described for gqrx 2.2 and fcp a while ago.

Any pointers? Do you need more info? Shall I log a ticket on github?

Kind regards,

Derk

[Alexandru Csete]

Hi Derk,

I recommend to try the macports version of the poackages or at least
see what patches and build options Michael uses to build. I suspect
the error lies deep inside gnuradio or boost, but you are welcome to
open an issue on github to have it on record.

Alex

[Derk Tegeler]

Hi Alex, thanks for the fast response.

The macports option fails to build gr-osmosdr, whereas the manual build works with no problems at all (something strange happening with /usr/local/lib/libairspy.0.dylib).

I'll try with a newer version of gnuradio, all the rest is at the latest version.

Another question: the SDR# stuff has a decimation option for airspy (http://airspy.com/downloads/airspy_controller.png). Do you have plans to implement this? I read somewhere that it significantly improves reception in some cases.

Kind regards and thanks for gqrx,

Derk

[Michael Dickens]

Hi Derk - Can you send me the failure build log related to gr-osmosdr?
I'll see if I can get it fixed. - MLD

[Alexandru Csete]

On Fri, Jan 2, 2015 at 5:51 PM, Derk Tegeler <antigr...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Another question: the SDR# stuff has a decimation option for airspy
> (http://airspy.com/downloads/airspy_controller.png). Do you have plans to
> implement this? I read somewhere that it significantly improves reception in
> some cases.

Hi Derk,

Gqrx already decimates from the input rate down to 48 kHz, although
the processing gain depends on the filter implementation in gnuradio.
I don't have any numbers but I believe it is a good tradeoff between
speed and quality.

Alex

[Derk Tegeler]

Thanks. I don't know enough about the innards, I'll take your word for it!

D.

[Derk Tegeler]

Sure!

I think I've isolated it:

DEBUG: Ignoring loadcommand containing @executable_path in /opt/local/libexec/ld64/ld

Could not open libairspy.0.dylib: Error opening or reading file (referenced from /opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/osmosdr/_osmosdr_swig.so)

DEBUG: Marking /opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/osmosdr/_osmosdr_swig.so as broken

DEBUG: Marking /opt/local/lib/libgnuradio-osmosdr.0.1.5git.dylib as broken

--->  Found 2 broken file(s), matching files to ports

Error: Port gr-osmosdr is still broken after rebuilding it more than 3 times.

In addition:

otool -L /opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/osmosdr/_osmosdr_swig.so

/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/osmosdr/_osmosdr_swig.so:

/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Python (compatibility version 2.7.0, current version 2.7.0)

/opt/local/lib/libgnuradio-osmosdr.0.1.5git.dylib (compatibility version 0.1.5, current version 0.0.0)

/opt/local/lib/libboost_thread-mt.dylib (compatibility version 0.0.0, current version 0.0.0)

/opt/local/lib/libboost_system-mt.dylib (compatibility version 0.0.0, current version 0.0.0)

/opt/local/lib/libgnuradio-runtime.3.7.5.1.dylib (compatibility version 3.7.5, current version 0.0.0)

/opt/local/lib/libgnuradio-pmt.3.7.5.1.dylib (compatibility version 3.7.5, current version 0.0.0)

/opt/local/lib/libgnuradio-blocks.3.7.5.1.dylib (compatibility version 3.7.5, current version 0.0.0)

/opt/local/lib/libgnuradio-fcd.3.7.5.1.dylib (compatibility version 3.7.5, current version 0.0.0)

/opt/local/lib/libgnuradio-fcdproplus.0.dylib (compatibility version 0.0.0, current version 0.0.0)

/opt/local/lib/librtlsdr.0.dylib (compatibility version 0.0.0, current version 0.5.0)

/opt/local/lib/libgnuradio-uhd.3.7.5.1.dylib (compatibility version 3.7.5, current version 0.0.0)

/opt/local/lib/libuhd.003.dylib (compatibility version 3.0.0, current version 3.8.0)

/opt/local/lib/libhackrf.0.dylib (compatibility version 0.0.0, current version 0.3.0)

/opt/local/lib/libbladeRF.1.dylib (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 0.0.0)

libairspy.0.dylib (compatibility version 0.0.0, current version 1.0.3)

/usr/lib/libc++.1.dylib (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 120.0.0)

/usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 1213.0.0)

Do you need anything else?

Kind regards,

Derk

[Michael Dickens]

[Just a touch OT; sorry!]

Hi Derk - Here's the issue:
{{{
% otool -L
/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/osmosdr/_osmosdr_swig.so
[snip]
*libairspy.0.dylib* (compatibility version 0.0.0, current version 1.0.3)
[snip]
}}}

libairspy need to be installed either using @rpath, or with it's self-id
library name with full path. These are minor changes to most build
systems that I've encountered. In GNU Radio, which uses CMake, we do the
following, which correctly sets the @rpath as well as the library
self-id name directory correctly -- so, sort of doubly making sure the
built libraries work ($GR_LIBRARY_DIR == "lib" on OSX; on Linux it might
be "lib" or "lib64"):
{{{
########################################################################
# On Apple only, set install name and use rpath correctly, if not
already set
########################################################################
if(APPLE)
if(NOT CMAKE_INSTALL_NAME_DIR)
set(CMAKE_INSTALL_NAME_DIR
${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/${GR_LIBRARY_DIR} CACHE
PATH "Library Install Name Destination Directory" FORCE)
endif(NOT CMAKE_INSTALL_NAME_DIR)
if(NOT CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH)
set(CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH
${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/${GR_LIBRARY_DIR} CACHE
PATH "Library Install RPath" FORCE)
endif(NOT CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH)
if(NOT CMAKE_BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_RPATH)
set(CMAKE_BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_RPATH ON CACHE
BOOL "Do Build Using Library Install RPath" FORCE)
endif(NOT CMAKE_BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_RPATH)
endif(APPLE)
}}}

I hope this helps airspy, and maybe other projects too! I'm pretty sure
this correction for Gqrx is already in place ... - MLD

[Derk Tegeler]

Michael, this did the trick, many thanks.

For other readers, to get gqrx running on Mac OSx Yosemite, using macports:

get libairspy from https://github.com/airspy/host as follows:

git clone https://github.com/airspy/host

Before building libairspy, modify host/libairspy/CMakeLists.txt and add the following near the beginning:

if(APPLE)
    set(GR_LIBRARY_DIR "lib")
    if(NOT CMAKE_INSTALL_NAME_DIR)
        set(CMAKE_INSTALL_NAME_DIR
            ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/${GR_LIBRARY_DIR} CACHE
            PATH "Library Install Name Destination Directory" FORCE)
    endif(NOT CMAKE_INSTALL_NAME_DIR)
    if(NOT CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH)
        set(CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH
            ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/${GR_LIBRARY_DIR} CACHE
            PATH "Library Install RPath" FORCE)
    endif(NOT CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH)
    if(NOT CMAKE_BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_RPATH)
        set(CMAKE_BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_RPATH ON CACHE
            BOOL "Do Build Using Library Install RPath" FORCE)
    endif(NOT CMAKE_BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_RPATH)
endif(APPLE)

 

If you have not built libairspy before:

mkdir host/build
cmake ../
make
sudo make install

If you have built libairspy before, go back to host/build directory and type

make uninstall
rm -rf *
cmake ../
make
sudo make install

Proceed to sudo port install gqrx

Make sure you start from a clean situation, you may need to clean the relevant macports (gnuradio, gr-osmosdr and gqrx)

Kind regards,

Derk