Install NI-VISA-4.3.0 for Linux with a 2.6.22 Kernel

[asdfwww]

Hi I am trying to install
NI-Visa-4.3.0 on a machine with kubuntu 7.10 and a 2.6.22 Kernel.
When I run the INSTALL-script i get this output:

Uninstalling NI-KAL (nikal): done
/bin/rm -rf objects
Updating NI-KAL:
 NI-KAL update failed.

/bin/cp nikal.c objects/nikal.c
/bin/cp nikal.h objects/nikal.h
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/build SUBDIRS=/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.22-14-generic'
  CC [M]  /usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects/nikal.o
/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects/nikal.c: In function 'nNIKAL100_buildControlURB':
/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects/nikal.c:3422: warning: passing argument 7 of 'usb_fill_control_urb' from incompatible pointer type
/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects/nikal.c: In function 'nNIKAL100_buildBulkURB':
/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects/nikal.c:3447: warning: passing argument 6 of 'usb_fill_bulk_urb' from incompatible pointer type
/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects/nikal.c: In function 'nNIKAL100_buildInterruptURB':
/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects/nikal.c:3498: warning: assignment from incompatible pointer type
/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects/nikal.c: In function 'nNIKAL100_buildIsochronousURB':
/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects/nikal.c:3539: warning: assignment from incompatible pointer type
/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects/nikal.c:3644:48: error: macro "INIT_WORK" passed 3 arguments, but takes just 2
/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects/nikal.c: In function 'nNIKAL100_usbClearHaltAsync':
/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects/nikal.c:3643: error: 'INIT_WORK' undeclared (first use in this function)
/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects/nikal.c:3643: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once
/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects/nikal.c:3643: error: for each function it appears in.)
/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects/nikal.c: In function 'nNIKAL100_reserveInterrupt':
/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects/nikal.c:3946: warning: 'deprecated_irq_flag' is deprecated (declared at include/linux/interrupt.h:66)
/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects/nikal.c:3946: warning: 'deprecated_irq_flag' is deprecated (declared at include/linux/interrupt.h:66)
/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects/nikal.c:3946: warning: passing argument 2 of 'request_irq' from incompatible pointer type
make[2]: *** [/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects/nikal.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [_module_/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src/objects] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.22-14-generic'
make: *** [objects/nikal.ko] Error 2

ERROR: make of nikal kernel module failed, not installing kernel module.
   updateNIDrivers should be called again after fixing the problem.
   Logging failure...
   Include the file /tmp/niSystemReport.out.gz when contacting
   National Instruments for support

I have attached the niSystemReport.out.gz to this message.
How can I get arround this problem.

[Shawn B.]

It looks like you forgot to add the attachment   It would still be nice to see, but mainly I would use it to check that you are indeed using NI-VISA 4.3 and confirm that has installed NI-KAL 1.7.  Unless my memory is failing me I swear I fixed those errors in NI-KAL 1.7, or possibly even 1.6 so I'm a bit confused as to why you would be seeing them with the latest software.

If you want you can simply trying installing the latest version of NI-KAL (currently 1.7) to see if it produces the same errors.

Shawn Bohrer
National Instruments

[alex1.uni]

Hi,
because of the fact, that my college is ill at the moment, I have to answer to you.

I have tried to install NI-KAL 1.7 from this site: http://joule.ni.com/nidu/cds/view/p/id/990/lang/en
and NI-VISA from this site: http://joule.ni.com/nidu/cds/view/p/id/986/lang/en
with both I get the same error.

[Shawn B.]

OK it looks like I'm not crazy.  Both of the system reports you attached showed that NI-KAL 1.5 is currently installed on the system, which means that the new NI-KAL 1.7 is not getting installed and that is why it fails to compile.  As I'm sure you know we do not officially support Ubuntu but I'm still curious why it is failing.  My questions for you are:

1.  It looks like you previously had NI-VISA 4.1 installed on the system.  How was NI-VISA 4.1 installed? Did you use the INSTALL script?
2.  Was this system upgraded from an older version of Ubuntu?  Was NI-VISA 4.1 installed before you upgraded to Gutsy?
3.  What is the output of "rpm -qa | grep ni" and "ls -l /bin/sh"?
4.  Can you provide the output from the install of NI-KAL 1.7?  Something like "./INSTALL --no-prompt --accept-license > nikal17_install.log 2>&1"

Shawn Bohrer
National Instruments

[alex1.uni]

Hi,

yes I know that you don't officially support Ubuntu.

1. We have tried to install NI-VISA 4.1 at first (with the INSTALL script), because it was part of the LabView 8.2 Package.  After we solved some other problems (bin/sh pointed to dash not to bash) the actual problem was the last one we don't solve.
2. No it was a completly new installation  of Gutsy.
3. that output isn't very informative, because ubuntu use deb-packages:
       "rpm -qa | grep ni
        rpm: To install rpm packages on Debian systems, use alien. See README.Debian.
        error: cannot open Packages index using db3 - No such file or directory (2)
        error: cannot open Packages database in /var/lib/rpm"

        "ls -l /bin/sh
        lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4 Apr  7 09:47 /bin/sh -> bash"
4. The output is in the attachment.

If it would help to solve the problem. I can reinstall the system to the original state and then try to install NI-VISA 4.3

Alexander

[Shawn B.]

OK I think I see the problem, at least with the NI-KAL 1.7 INSTALL script.  Since we don't find rpm on your system we pretend we are going to do a tar install but then don't since we don't really support a tar install.  Normally the install would just fail since we didn't actually install anything, but somehow you have NI-KAL 1.5 on the system so the INSTALL continues trying to compile it.  The NI-VISA 4.3 INSTALL script looks equally broken in the non rpm case.  Just for my sanity did you use alien to convert/install any of the NI rpms?

Here is my recommendation:

# install rpm
apt-get install rpm
# install NI-VISA 4.3
strGlobalAdditionalRpmFlags="--nodeps" ./INSTALL

I think that will work, but if it doesn't the output from the install would help.

Shawn Bohrer
National Instruments

[alex1.uni]

Hi

after installing rpm ubuntu don't allow me to install rpms. So the INSTALL-script use every time I start it to the installation with cpio, which is the normal mode when the script detect a System which don't support rpm-packages.

After the installation work fine on my Laptop (ubuntu 7.10) I decide to reinstall the system.  (I didn't found every file from the old NI-VISA-4.1 installation, so that was the easyest way to delete all old files)
After the new installation of the system I installed LABVIEW 8.2, NI-488-2.5.1 and NI-VISA-4.3 nearly without problems.

in the INSTALL script for NI-488-2.5.1 in the file bin/installerUtility.sh is the line 326 which looks originally like:
if [ "`$GREP UTS_RELEASE $headersDir/include/linux/version.h | $GREP -c \"$kernelVersion\"`" = "0" ]; then
since Kernel 2.6.19 it have to look like:
if [ "`$GREP UTS_RELEASE $headersDir/include/linux/utsrelease.h | $GREP -c \"$kernelVersion\"`" = "0" ]; then
because the UTS-RELEASE is moved from the file version.h to its own file.

The installation of NI-VISA-4.3 gives some errors about .desktop files, which aren't critically, I hope.
The complete output is in the attachement.

At least thank you for your support

Alexander

[Shawn B.]

Does everything actually work?  I thought when I looked at the cpio code in the VISA INSTALL script yesterday that it looked like it didn't actually install the files.  Or more acurately it looked like it might install some but not all files.  I could be wrong though since I didn't try it.  The desktop and menu files are only there to add a menu item to the VISA utilities, so they are not critical.  Though the fact that they are missing could be a sign that other files might be missing as well.

Shawn Bohrer
National Instruments

[alex1.uni]

Hi,

I have tried to test all functions of VISA and found that there are some broken symlinks in the /usr/local/bin, which points to parts of NI-VISA.
/usr/local/bin$ l
total 4.0K
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 39 Apr  8 11:44 NIvisaic -> /usr/local/vxipnp/linux/NIvisa/NIvisaic (broken)
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 43 Apr  8 11:44 driverwizard -> /usr/local/vxipnp/linux/NIvisa/driverwizard (broken)
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 43 Apr  8 11:44 niSystemReport -> /usr/local/natinst/nikal/bin/niSystemReport*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 39 Apr  8 11:32 nisvcloc -> /usr/local/natinst/LabVIEW-8.2/nisvcloc*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 43 Apr  8 11:44 nivisaserver -> /usr/local/vxipnp/linux/NIvisa/nivisaserver (broken)
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 44 Apr  8 11:44 updateNIDrivers -> /usr/local/natinst/nikal/bin/updateNIDrivers*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 38 Apr  8 11:44 viclean -> /usr/local/vxipnp/linux/NIvisa/viclean (broken)
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 39 Apr  8 11:44 visaconf -> /usr/local/vxipnp/linux/NIvisa/visaconf (broken)

/usr/local/vxipnp$ l
total 4.0K
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Apr  8 11:44 etc/

Could the problem be solved when I download the single partes and install them seperatly, or should I try to install the packages with alien?

Thanks for your answer
Alexander