The prerequisites are tools and libraries needed to install or use GNU Radio. They can be useful for other purposes also.

Obtaining and installing the prerequisites is more work than installing GNU Radio itself. However, it rarely needs to be repeated. To build and use recent versions of GNU Radio, we still use many of the prerequisites we installed in 2005.

Many prerequisites are available in several formats. Here are the alternatives, ranked from easiest to most difficult to install.

1. Already included in OS X or provided by Apple
2. MacPorts port
3. Binary distribution for OS X (usually a .dmg file)
4. source distribution (usually a .tar file)

We usually choose the easiest format, but sometimes the version required by GNU Radio is only available in a more difficult format.

Install the prerequisites from an admin account. If a command fails because of permission or privilege problems, try again with sudo command.

We don't install Python, we use the version that already comes with OS X. Currently we are running OS X version 10.4.10, which provides Python 2.3.5.

At this writing the latest Python version is 2.5, but 2.3.5 is sufficient to build and run the latest GNU Radio. It is possible to install a newer version of Python on OS X in addition to the one that is provided, but this can create difficulties, so we have chosen not to.

Sticking with Python 2.3.5 can be a bit inconvenient because some versions of other prerequisites depend on more recent Python versions. However, we have always been able to find a version of every prerequisite that works with Python 2.3.5. Details follow.

We installed Apple's Xcode programming tools and libraries. Xcode provides gcc 4.0 and make. The Xcode tools install in /usr/bin.

We don't use the Xcode GUI to build or install GNU Radio. We do it all from the command line, in a terminal window.

Xcode 2.0 comes on the Tiger install DVD, but it is not installed automatically along with Tiger. After you install Tiger, load the Tiger DVD. Open the Xcode Tools folder; in that folder open XCodeTools.mpkg to start the Xcode Tools Installer, then follow its directions. After the installation completes, run update (Apple Menu -> Software Update ...) to get up to the latest version.

Alternatively, you can download the latest version of Xcode from the following URL at Apple. It's free, but you must register for Apple Developer Connection.

We installed the Subversion (svn) version control system to check out the GNU Radio source code and build scripts from the repository. GNU Radio no longer uses CVS.

Here we found a .dmg file that you can install in the usual way.

MacPorts is a collection of open-source software packaged for Mac OS X. Get a package from MacPorts if you can; this is usually more convenient and less error-prone than building it from source. Most of the prerequisites for GNU Radio are available from MacPorts.

MacPorts also refers to the package management tools. They maintain a database of packages available on the Internet and a registry of packages installed on your machine. The MacPorts port command is analogous to the rpm, apt-get, or dpkg commands available on some Linux systems. Use it to find, install, and query about the MacPorts software packages. The port install package command downloads and installs package, and any other packages on which it depends.

The MacPorts software packages (including the MacPorts tools themselves) install under /opt/local. This directory does not exist when Mac OS X is installed. Installing the MacPorts tools creates it (if it has not already been created for some other reason).

Install the MacPorts tools first. Go to the Get MacPorts page and follow the directions there.

The autotools are programs that automate building software packages on multiple platforms. They are needed to build GNU Radio.

GNU Radio requires these tools and versions, according to the README in the top-level gnuradio build directory.

autonconf 2.57 or later
automake 1.7.4 or later
libtool 1.5 or later
pkgconfig 0.15.0 or later

All of the autotools are available from MacPorts. To install the autotools, execute the following commands:

$ sudo port install autoconf
... 
$ sudo port install automake
...
$ sudo port install libtool
...
$ sudo port install pkgconfig
...

$ port installed
The following ports are currently installed:
  autoconf 2.59_0 (active)
  automake 1.9.5_0 (active)
  libtool 1.5.20_0 (active)
  pkgconfig 0.19_0 (active)

Confirm that your PATH is set correctly, so you execute the MacPorts versions and not any older Xcode versions.

$ which automake
/opt/local/bin/automake
$ automake --version
automake (GNU automake) 1.9.5
...

Contrast this to the older version installed by Xcode, which will not build GNU Radio.

$ /usr/bin/automake --version
automake (GNU automake) 1.6.3

Swig is a tool that enables Python code to call C++ code. GNU Radio requires swig 1.3.23 or later.

Swig is available from MacPorts. Install it and confirm the installation in the usual way.

$ sudo port install swig
...

$ port installed
...
  swig 1.3.25_0 (active)

Several libraries are required to build gnuradio-core:

Boost C++ libraries 1.31 recommended, presumably later is OK
cppunit 1.9.14 or later
FFTW3 3.0 or later

These are all available from MacPorts. Boost and cppunit can be installed and confirmed as usual.

$ sudo port install boost
...
$ sudo port install cppunit
...

$ port installed
...
  boost 1.32.0_0 (active)
  boost-jam 3.1.11_0 (active)
  cppunit 1.11.0_0 (active)

These installations can take many minutes so be patient and don't panic. You can view the output of top -o cpu in a different window to reassure yourself that the installation in proceeding.

To get the right version of FFTW3, install the MacPorts fftw-3-single package (thanks to Michael Dickens for pointing this out).

$ sudo port install fftw-3-single
...

When the installation completes, make sure you have the libfftw3f libraries (with an f at the end of the name), not libfftw3.

$ port contents fftw-3-single
Port fftw-3-single contains:
  ...
  /opt/local/lib/libfftw3f.a
  /opt/local/lib/libfftw3f.la
  /opt/local/lib/libfftw3f_threads.a
  /opt/local/lib/libfftw3f_threads.la
  /opt/local/lib/pkgconfig/fftw3f.pc
  ...

NumPy is a Python numeric library. It is required to run both gnuradio-core and gr-wxgui (it is not required to build them).

GNU Radio no longer uses Numeric. NumPy has replaced Numeric.

To use the USRP hardware, you must have libusb. It is a prerequisite for the usrp module. Get it from MacPorts.

$ port info libusb
libusb 0.1.10a, ....

$ sudo port install libusb
...

$ port installed
  ...
  libusb 0.1.10a_1 (active)
  ...

$ port contents libusb
Port libusb contains:
  ...
  /opt/local/bin/libusb-config
  /opt/local/include/usb.h
  /opt/local/include/usbpp.h
  ...
  /opt/local/lib/libusb.dylib
  ...
  /opt/local/lib/libusbpp.dylib
  ...

$ port install sdcc
--->  Fetching sdcc
--->  Attempting to fetch sdcc-2.4.0.tar.gz from http://puzzle.dl.sourceforge.net/sdcc
--->  Verifying checksum(s) for sdcc
--->  Extracting sdcc
--->  Configuring sdcc
--->  Building sdcc with target all
Error: Target com.apple.build returned: shell command "cd /opt/local/var/db/dports/build/file._opt_local_var_db_dports_sources_rsync.rsync.opendarwin.org_dpupdate_dports_lang_sdcc/work/sdcc && gnumake all" returned error 2
...
... many successful gcc commands
... 
gcc -Wall -pipe -ggdb -g -O2  -I. -I.. -I../support/Util -c SDCCutil.c -o SDCCutil.o
In file included from SDCCutil.c:30:
../support/Util/dbuf.h:32: error: parse error before 'size_t'
../support/Util/dbuf.h:32: warning: no semicolon at end of struct or union
../support/Util/dbuf.h:33: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'len'
../support/Util/dbuf.h:33: warning: data definition has no type or storage class
../support/Util/dbuf.h:35: error: parse error before '}' token
../support/Util/dbuf.h:42: error: parse error before 'size'
../support/Util/dbuf.h:43: error: parse error before 'size_t'
../support/Util/dbuf.h:44: error: parse error before 'size_t'
../support/Util/dbuf.h:45: error: parse error before 'size_t'
../support/Util/dbuf.h:47: error: parse error before 'dbuf_get_size'
../support/Util/dbuf.h:47: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'dbuf_get_size'
../support/Util/dbuf.h:47: warning: data definition has no type or storage class
SDCCutil.c: In function 'appendStrSet':
SDCCutil.c:74: error: storage size of 'dbuf' isn't known
SDCCutil.c:74: warning: unused variable 'dbuf'
SDCCutil.c: In function 'joinStrSet':
SDCCutil.c:97: error: storage size of 'dbuf' isn't known
SDCCutil.c:97: warning: unused variable 'dbuf'
gnumake[1]: *** [SDCCutil.o] Error 1
gnumake: *** [sdcc-cc] Error 2

To recover from this, go to the directory that contains SDCCutil.c, which is

/opt/local/var/db/dports/build/_opt_local_var_db_dports_sources_rsync.rsync.darwinports.org_dpupdate_dports_lang_sdcc/work/sdcc/src/

Edit SDCCutil.c (with sudo). Search for dbuf.h, and move that whole line to the end of the #include's (4 lines below).

Then, repeat the install command. It should resume at the step that failed, and complete successfully. (Thanks to Michael Dickens for this fix.)

$ port install sdcc
--->  Building sdcc with target all--->  Staging sdcc into destroot
--->  Packaging tgz archive for sdcc 2.4.0_0
--->  Installing sdcc 2.4.0_0
--->  Activating sdcc 2.4.0_0
--->  Cleaning sdcc

$ port installed
  ...
  sdcc 2.4.0_0 (active)
  ...

If the SDCC install still fails, you may have to assign these environment variables:

  SDCC_LIB=/opt/local/share/sdcc/lib/
  SDCC_INCLUDE=/opt/local/share/sdcc/include/

See thread starting at:

Instructions for subsequent steps: