UHD - Build Guide

Table of Contents

Build Dependencies

Linux Notes: This is dependent on the distribution you are using, but most, if not all, of the dependencies should be available in the package repositories for your package manager.

Mac OS X Notes: Install the "Xcode Developer Tools" to get the build tools (gcc and make). Use MacPorts to get the Boost and Cheetah dependencies. Other dependencies can be downloaded as dmg installers from the web.

Windows Notes: The dependencies can be acquired through installable exe files. Usually, the windows installer can be found on the project's website. Some projects do not host windows installers, and if this is the case, follow the auxiliary download url for the windows installer (below).

Git

Required to check out the repository. On windows, install cygwin with git support to checkout the repository, or install msysgit from http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/downloads/list

C++ compiler

The following compilers are known to work:

GCC
Clang
MSVC

CMake

Purpose: generates project build files
Version: at least 2.6
Usage: build time (required)
Download URL: http://www.cmake.org/cmake/resources/software.html

Boost

Purpose: C++ library
Version: at least 1.36 unix, at least 1.40 windows
Usage: build time + run time (required)
Download URL: http://www.boost.org/users/download/
Download URL (windows installer): http://www.boostpro.com/download

LibUSB

Purpose: USB-based hardware support
Version: at least 1.0
Usage: build time + run time (optional)
Download URL: http://sourceforge.net/projects/libusb/files/libusb-1.0/
Download URL (windows binaries): http://www.libusb.org/wiki/windows_backend#LatestBinarySnapshots

Python

Purpose: used by Cheetah and utility scripts
Version: at least 2.6
Usage: build time + run time utility scripts (required)
Download URL: http://www.python.org/download/

Cheetah

Purpose: source code generation
Version: at least 2.0
Usage: build time (required)
Download URL: http://www.cheetahtemplate.org/download.html
Download URL (windows installer): http://feisley.com/python/cheetah/

Alternative method: Install setuptools, and use the easy_install command to install Cheetah. http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools

Doxygen

Purpose: generates html api documentation
Usage: build time (optional)
Download URL: http://www.stack.nl/~dimitri/doxygen/download.html#latestsrc

Docutils

Purpose: generates html user manual
Usage: build time (optional)
Download URL: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/

Alternate method: Install setuptools, and use the easy_install command to install Docutils. http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools

Build Instructions (Unix)

Generate Makefiles with cmake

cd <uhd-repo-path>/host
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ../

Additionally, configuration variables can be passed into cmake via the command line. The following common-use configuration variables are listed below:

For a custom install prefix: -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<install-path>
To install libs into lib64: cmake -DLIB_SUFFIX=64

Example usage:

cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/opt/uhd ../

Build and install

make
make test
sudo make install

Setup the library path (Linux)

Make sure that libuhd.so is in your LD_LIBRARY_PATH or add it to /etc/ld.so.conf and make sure to run:

sudo ldconfig

Setup the library path (Mac OS X)

Make sure that libuhd.dylib is in your DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH

Build Instructions (Windows)

Generate the project with cmake

Open the cmake gui program.
Set the path to the source code: <uhd-repo-path>/host
Set the path to the build directory: <uhd-repo-path>/host/build
Make sure that the paths do not contain spaces.
Click configure and select the MSVC compiler.
Set the build variables and click configure again.
Click generate and a project file will be created in the build directory.

LibUSB cmake notes

On Windows, cmake does not have the advantage of pkg-config, so we must manually tell cmake how to locate the LibUSB header and lib.

From the cmake gui, select "Advanded View"
Set LIBUSB_INCLUDE_DIRS to the directory with "libusb.h".
Set LIBUSB_LIBRARIES to the full path for "libusb-1.0.lib".
- Recommend the static libusb-1.0.lib to simplify runtime dependencies.
Check the box to enable USB support, click configure and generate.

Build the project in MSVC

Open the generated project file in MSVC.
Change the build type from "Debug" to "Release".
Select the build all target, right click, and choose build.
Select the install target, right click, and choose build.

Note: you may not have permission to build the install target. You need to be an administrator or to run MSVC as administrator.

Build the project in MSVC (command line)

Open the Visual Studio Command Prompt Shorcut:

cd <uhd-repo-path>\host\build
DevEnv uhd.sln /build Release /project ALL_BUILD
DevEnv uhd.sln /build Release /project INSTALL

Setup the PATH environment variable

Add the uhd bin path to %PATH% (usually c:\program files\uhd\bin)

Note: The interface for editing environment variable paths in Windows is very poor. I recommend using "Rapid Environment Editor" (http://www.rapidee.com) over the default editor.

Post-Install Tasks

For USB-based devices, see the USB Transport Application Notes for platform-specific post-installation tasks.