In Debian and its derivatives (like Ubuntu, Raspbian, etc.), there’s no official meta-package specifically for radio astronomy

In Debian and its derivatives (like Ubuntu, Raspbian, etc.), there’s no official meta-package specifically for radio astronomy. However, you can create a custom meta-package to install a set of radio astronomy tools, or use existing scientific meta-packages that include some of the relevant software.

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🔧 1. Create Your Own Meta-Package

A Debian meta-package is essentially a dummy package whose only purpose is to depend on other packages, causing them to be installed together.

📝 Example: radioastronomy-tools Meta-Package

Here’s a basic example of a control file for your own meta-package:

Package: radioastronomy-tools
Version: 1.0
Section: metapackages
Priority: optional
Architecture: all
Depends: gpredict, gnuradio, rtl-sdr, sdrangel, python3-numpy, python3-scipy, python3-matplotlib, python3-astropy, python3-pyephem, hamlib-utils
Maintainer: Your Name <your@email.com>
Description: Meta-package for amateur radio astronomy tools
 A collection of software tools commonly used in amateur and professional
 radio astronomy, including SDR drivers, signal processing libraries,
 and astronomy utilities.

Then, use dpkg-deb to build and install it:

mkdir -p radioastronomy-tools/DEBIAN
# Place the control file inside DEBIAN/
dpkg-deb --build radioastronomy-tools
sudo dpkg -i radioastronomy-tools.deb

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📦 2. Existing Debian Packages Useful for Radio Astronomy

Here’s a categorized list of existing packages relevant to radio astronomy:

SDR and Signal Processing

• gnuradio
• rtl-sdr
• sdrangel
• soapysdr-module-rtlsdr
• gr-osmosdr
• hackrf (if using HackRF)

Python Libraries (via apt or pip)

• python3-numpy
• python3-scipy
• python3-matplotlib
• python3-astropy
• python3-pyephem or python3-skyfield

Astronomy Tools

• gpredict – satellite tracking
• stellarium – planetarium software
• kstars – KDE-based astronomical toolkit

Data and Ephemeris

• nova
• xephem (if available)
• predict (for satellite passes)

Ham Radio & Communication (if applicable)

• hamlib-utils
• flrig
• fldigi

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🌐 3. External or Source-Based Tools

Some key radio astronomy packages must be installed from source or external repos:

• Radio JOVE tools (from NASA)
• GNU Radio modules: gr-radio_astro, gr-harmonics, or gr-corr
• CASA (NRAO’s Common Astronomy Software Applications) – not in Debian by default
• AstroPy-affiliated packages like spectral-cube, sunpy, radio_beam

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✅ Optional: Use Tasksel or Blend

Debian supports “Pure Blends” (e.g., debian-science), which are thematic meta-packages. However, there isn’t a “debian-astro” blend yet for radio astronomy specifically.

You can check available tasks:

tasksel --list-tasks

Or use:

sudo apt install science-astronomy

Though science-astronomy leans more toward optical astronomy, it may include libraries you want.

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