Error during installation GNU Radio under Linux Ubuntu

If GNU Radio registered errors during installation and now refuses to install at all, here’s how to systematically troubleshoot and resolve the issue. Let’s assume you’re on a Linux system (likely Ubuntu/Debian or a variant, since that’s the most common GNU Radio setup).

🔍 1. Check What Went Wrong

Run this in your terminal to inspect the last 100 lines of the installation log:

tail -n 100 /var/log/apt/term.log | less

Or if you installed from source, check the end of the terminal output or any generated log files (often in the build directory).

🧼 2. Remove Broken Install / Clean the System

If a partial or broken GNU Radio install exists, clean it out:

For APT-installed versions:

sudo apt purge gnuradio
sudo apt autoremove

Also remove cached packages and update:

sudo apt clean
sudo apt update

For Source-built versions:

If you built from source (e.g., cloned from GitHub), go to your build directory and run:

sudo make uninstall

Then remove the build and source folders:

rm -rf ~/gnuradio  # Or wherever you cloned it

🔄 3. Reinstall Properly

✅ EASIEST: Use APT (for most users)

sudo apt install gnuradio

🧱 If you need a newer version or special modules: Use pybombs or conda

Option: PyBOMBS (GNU Radio’s old build system—can be finicky)

sudo apt install python3-pip git
pip3 install pybombs
pybombs auto-config
pybombs recipes add-defaults
pybombs prefix init ~/gnuradio -a myprefix -R gnuradio-default

Option: Conda (Recommended if you’re running into system-level dependency issues)

wget https://repo.anaconda.com/miniconda/Miniconda3-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh
bash Miniconda3-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh
conda create -n gnuradio_env gnuradio
conda activate gnuradio_env
gnuradio-companion

🧪 4. Verify Installation

After reinstalling, try:

gnuradio-companion

You should see the GUI launch without error.

Is the following all one line?

wget https://repo.anaconda.com/miniconda/Miniconda3-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh bash Miniconda3-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh conda create -n gnuradio_env gnuradio conda activate gnuradio_env gnuradio-companion

No, the command you’ve written is not correctly structured as a single line—it actually contains multiple distinct shell commands, and they need to be separated properly with && or semicolons ;, and possibly split into multiple lines for clarity.

Here’s a corrected version with explanations:

wget https://repo.anaconda.com/miniconda/Miniconda3-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh && \
bash Miniconda3-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh && \
conda create -n gnuradio_env gnuradio -y && \
conda activate gnuradio_env && \
gnuradio-companion

🔍 Key Points:

• wget downloads the Miniconda installer
• bash runs the installer
• conda create creates a new environment with GNU Radio
• conda activate activates that environment
• gnuradio-companion runs the GUI application

💡 Tips:

1. You’ll need to restart your shell or source the conda init script before conda activate will work. After installation:source ~/.bashrc
2. If conda activate gives an error, run:conda init source ~/.bashrc