Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] New version of build-gnuradio

[Marcus D. Leech]

> Hi Marcus, is there a handy release note that matches this new version of
> "build-gnuradio" script? If we had an previous installation on our system
> (say: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS or 11.xx) are there any prerequisite steps that we
> have/should to do before adopting this script - or, should we only use the
> new script for fresh installations from now on?
I originally designed it for fresh installations.  It isn't really 
designed as an ongoing-maint
  tool.  For that, there's "git pull/make/sudo make install".

I don't make release notes for it.  My life is quite full-enough as it is.

> I did notice a small issue, but probably over the next few months this can
> be worked out: There are several key locations for the files that GNU Radio,
> UHD, others install in a single system:
>
> Documentation
> UHD binaries
> GNU radio binaries
> GNU Radio XML scripts
> GNU Radio python scripts
> Etc.
> Etc.
>
> Given the increased trend to adopt GNU radio as both development and
> production systems, is there a possibility that we may have to adopt/or need
> to confirm adoption of a particular file system / repository /
> documentation/ directory standard? See
> http://garrett.damore.org/fsstnd/fsstnd.html for a historical perspective
> that is not always found in custom distributions such as Ubuntu. For many of
> you, using Sun workstations, you also know the importance of using the /opt
> tree for all custom package installs.
The script is designed for Ubuntu/Fedora and follows the filesystem 
layout of those
  systems.  Presumably, if it's ever extended for other Linux 
distributions, and other
  *nix flavours, it will follow, as required, the filesystem layout 
conventions of those
  systems.


> Marcus, thank you for your hard work. I actually have a relatively simple
> addon to your script in alpha testing, that uses the dialog
> http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/2807 package (a modern version) to give
> a user-friendly list of all available "tags" that can be chosen, and then
> present that chosen set to the next installation module for installation.
> Obviously I haven't yet fully integrated it, but if you allow, I could share
> it with you at a later date - as an option to allow the user to choose from
> the various interim releases easily. Let me know if you are interested, and
> if anyone has any issues with the Linux: Dialog utility, please let me know
> as well.  Is this now universally available on various OSes? Alternatively,
> I could use plain old BASH to provide a less than pretty user interface.
> Comments welcome.
>
> Samudra
>
> -
I wonder, out loud, how "user friendly" we have to make a system that is 
primarily intended for an audience that
  could loosely be termed  "engineers".  Gnu Radio + UHD are not, 
primarily, an "end application", but rather a development
  environment for developing applications.  It rather assumes that you 
have some reasonable competence in software development,
  RF engineering, digital signal processing, and basic 
system-administration.   It isn't intended to provide a big blue
  "make my PhD come out" button, or a "turn-key method for rendering EM 
waves into instant cash".  If a script like
  'build-gnuradio' is too complicated for a user to use, then I wonder 
about the probability that said user will have any success once
  Gnu Radio is installed.

The other possible argument is that build-gnuradio *already* "dumbs 
things down", so why not go all the way?




--
Marcus Leech
Principal Investigator
Shirleys Bay Radio Astronomy Consortium
http://www.sbrac.org