Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Request for Wiki update.

[HansFong]

Because I never succeed with pyBOMBS and the distro packages are outdated.

I know I'm going to ruffle some feathers, but my intentions are noble, 
so here it is: GNUradio is by far the worst project I've seen in my 20 
years are a Linux user when it comes to documentation. It's almost 
un-Linux how bad it is. Because with Linux you can RTFM (remember that 
one. Is hardly used nowadays, it seems) and then use google if the 
problem you are facing is very specific. If you still don't "get it" 
then maybe a question on a forum, or IRC.

With GNUradio the manual (read: Wiki) is a mess, with pages not in the 
index, old or missing information and broken links. Then there is also 
information on github, but non of the afore mentioned sources will give 
you a working installation, because you can't see the forests for the 
trees. If you are an insider, maybe yes. But to a interested newcomer, not.

Give you an example: compiled from source using the Wiki instruction. So 
GR did start up, but I got version 3.9! Isn't 3.8 the current version? 
But with the git reference on the Wiki you will download version 3.9. No 
hint whatsoever on how to install 3.8, which git reference to use, what 
to watch out for, etc. The Wiki has nothing on 3.8!!!!!!! This is really 
bad and will make for a very bad impression to people who want to try 
GR. There is this reflector to ask questions, but as I stated earlier, 
this isn't the right way to do things: RTFM, google, forum.

Then there is pyBOMBS, which is supposed to make life easier. It might, 
if it works, but it doesn't. Apparently GR is so complex that even GR 
insiders can't write a script that can grok everything that is needed to 
install GR. The complexity of dealing with many Linux distros is a 
factor I can understand, but then again, I'm using (K)ubuntu and if 
pyBOMBS can't even install successfully on Kubuntu then I think there is 
a serious problem.

I've been compiling software on Linux for the past 20 years, so in the 
end I just thought "what the heck" and did it myself. Wasn't too 
difficult and I did get a working piece of software, albeit not the 3.8 
version I wanted. On Twitter people already told me how to compile 3.8, 
so I'll nuke my install and do it again.

The above isn't very positive, but it's not a rant, because ranting is 
not productive. But since you asked I do think I need to be honest in 
telling you what I think about GR and hopefully it will help getting a 
better understanding of how outsiders look at GR and maybe will cause 
some improvements. I can't be (and I know I'm not) the only one who has 
a not so favorable impression of GR, but we radio amateurs will still be 
trying to install and use GR, because in essence it is a good piece of 
software and we desperately need something like GR on Linux. But fun 
installing it ain't!              For sure.

My suggestion for improving things: only release a new version when both 
the software and documentation are ready and then make a clear 
distinction between documentation for the old and new versions of the 
software.

73 and greetings from Taiwan

Hans

BX2ABT



On 10/15/19 6:21 PM, Müller, Marcus (CEL) wrote:
> Hi Hans,
>
> I'm happy that Kyeong fixed that page.
>
> But honestly, you shouldn't *need* to compile GNU Radio from source,
> unless you want a recent development version of it. What's the reason
> you're doing that?
>
> Best regards,
> Marcus
>
> On Tue, 2019-10-15 at 08:13 +0800, HansFong wrote:
> > Can somebody with the appropriate powers to change a GR wiki page please add 
> > the following to the install instructions 
> > (https://wiki.gnuradio.org/index.php/InstallingGR)?
> >
> > In the section "Compiling from source" after "make install" add the following:
> >
> > sudo ldconfig
> >
> > It took me half a day to compile GNUradio, another half to figure out this last 
> > step. I'm sorry to criticize, but in my experience GNUradio is one of the most 
> > frustrating pieces of software to install because the documentation is so 
> > incomplete or haphazard. This goes especially for GR noobs like myself. Cheers 
> > and 73
> >
> > Hans
> >
> > BX2ABT
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio