Sunday, April 10, 2022

WSJTX ver 2.5.4 , HAMLIB 4.4 and RIGCTL error - how to solve on Ubuntu 20.04.03

Hello everyone.

NOTE: I run Ubuntu 20.04.03 but I suppose this explanation will help everyone running linux like operating systems.

Due to personal stuff to do these months I did not manage to update to latest WSJTX 2.5.4 so I decide to do it first available weekend. So it be.

So at first I installed wsjtx v 2.5.4 . I suppose you already know how to installed because you arrive at my page seeking for solution  for the same problem I already had ;)

Unfortunately when I tried to start wsjtx (which runs under cqrlog logging software) I started to receive errors sayng there is a problem with rigctl and hamlib .

So, I started browsing the net and I find that in order to avoid such message I have to install latest hamlib. I did not know (to be honest I forgot) what version I run, so i check it first with following command:

rigctl --version

I received info that I am using existing cqrlog's hamlib version 3.3

So , I had to download latest hamlib and recompile it by myself.

There is two variants: first one is to download latest hamlib directly from it's github and the other is to connect to github with git from where in terminal you will install hamlib. Both variants will be described.

Well, hamlib's github link is https://github.com/Hamlib/Hamlib .

Here you can  find latest editions and all previous ones from hamlib.

Now, I will explain both options for installing hamlib:

V.1 :
- Download latest hamlib to your computer and extract it.

- go to extracted hamlib directory and open terminal in it, starting typing these commands:

sudo ./configure
sudo make
sudo make install
 
V.2 : Connecting to github via git software (sudo apt get-install git)
 
Execute these command in your terminal: 
 
git clone https://github.com/Hamlib/Hamlib.git
cd Hamlib
sudo ./bootstrap
sudo ./configure
sudo make
sudo make install
 
Later you can make update to hamlib just with typing in terminal these commands in Hamlib folder created by git clone command:
 
git pull

and recompile library again as described above.

And now comes the tricky part. 

If you try to run rigctld --version you will receive this message:

rigctl: error while loading shared libraries: libhamlib.so.4: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
 
What happened, I followed all the procedure, why it this happening ???

So, I continue to search for explanation and I found it, just before quiting and removing latest hamlib and wsjtx from my computer, getting back to previous one versions. This explanation I found in just one post (at least I could find it browsing the net), saying that we have to run additional command

sudo ldconfig
 
This little comand explanation is : ldconfig is a utility that indexes shared object names to simplify loading on shared object libraries by executables. It scans standard directories and those found in the ld. so. conf configuration file and stores its index in ld.
This command makes rigctl to be able to detect hamlib !?
 
Now check rigctl:
 
rigctld --version
 
also checking 
 
rigctld-wsjtx -- version 
 
You should receive positive feedback in a message saying:
 
rigctl Hamlib 4.5~git Sat Jan 01 23:05:51 2022 +0000 SHA=18548e

Fine, looks like we managed to link rigctl with hamlib. Great.

BUT...

In addition everything to work you should also do these last steps:

Open CQRLOG -> Preferences:
 
1. re-select you rig (in my case it is Kenwood TS480) and check com parameters.
 
2. change path of rigctl , replacing usr/local/binrigctl path with usr/local/binrigctl-wsjtx (this is the same path but rigctl is replaced with rigctl-wsjtx)
 
Close CQRLOG and open it again to reload rigctl.
 
Then open WSJTX and re-check config parameters also, there should not be any error now at the opening and wsjtx should work properly with your rig and cqrlog.

I hope this text will help lot of radio amateurs to solve this small but still big issue when upgrading wsjtx and hamlib .

73 de Z34PEC