make modules_prepare works but kernel source is not configured?

[der_gaertner]

Hallo

I am trying to install a NI 6713 under Opensuse 10.3 Linux using the NIDAQ800_Suse.iso. 
I do have the kernel packages installed:
    $ rpm -qa|grep kernel
    kernel-default-2.6.22.13-0.3
    kernel-source-2.6.22.13-0.3
    linux-kernel-headers-2.6.22-19
    kernel-syms-2.6.22.13-0.3
and I successfully ran make cloneconfig and make modules_prepare. Also I was able to install and use
NI-Visa 4.2 which compiles its own kernel modules.

However the installation of NI-DAQmx fails with:
    ..................
    Checking required install tools...
    Checking installer tool versions...
    rpm        4.4.2 can be used with a default installation path
    tar        1.17
    Checking dependencies...
    glibc      2.6.1
    Unpacking install files to /tmp/nidaqmx-8.0.0f1.install...

    ******************************** ERROR ****************************************
    * Kernel source in /lib/modules/2.6.22.13-0.3-default/source does not appear to              be
    * configured for the 2.6.22.13-0.3-default kernel.
    * Configuration of kernel source is required to continue installation.        *
    * Refer to the README file for the product you are installing for information *
    * about configuring your kernel source.                                       *
    ******************************** ERROR ****************************************

    Installer is aborted.

Starting the installer from /usr/src/linux didn't help either.
Any thoughts?

A nice christmas wishes
                                              Matthias

[Shawn B.]

Hey Matthias,

You should be able to get NI-DAQmx 8.0 to install on openSUSE 10.3, but it will require some manual steps.  Also keep in mind that we have not done any testing of NI-DAQmx on openSUSE 10.3 so you could run into some other issues.  Anyway here is what you need to do (this is from from memory so hopefully I'm not forgetting anything):

1.  NI-DAQmx 8.0 has some problems with long symbol names and the version of modpost in newer kernels, so we need to make a small modification to the kernel.

cd /usr/src/linux
# Put the source in a clean state
make mrproper

# Edit modpost.c in your favorite text editor
# search for "#define SZ 500" and replace with "#define SZ 1024"
vim scripts/mod/modpost.c

# Copy the config from your currently running kernel
# SUSE users
make cloneconfig
# or everyone else (assuming your kernel supports it)
bzcat /proc/config.gz > .config
# or if /proc/config.gz doesn't exist
cp /boot/config-$(uname -r) .config

# Prepare the kernel to build external modules
make modules_prepare

2.  Download and install the latest version of NI-KAL (currently 1.6).

3.  The NI-DAQmx 8.0 install script has an older script that needs to be updated for the INSTALL script to work

#  Mount the NI-DAQmx 8.0 iso (or CD)
mkdir iso
mount -o loop NIDAQ800_SUSE.iso iso/

# Copy the contents to a temp directory
cp -R iso/ tmp

# Unpack the tar ball
cd tmp
tar xvzf *.tar.gz

# Copy the installerUtility.sh script that NI-KAL installed to the DAQmx installer
# First find installerUtility.sh in your unpacked NI-DAQmx installer
find tmp/ -name installerUtility.sh
# Replace it with the NI-KAL version
cp /usr/local/natinst/nikal/bin/installerUtility.sh <path to daq version>

# Repack the NI-DAQmx tar ball
# I'm just guessing on the names here they should match the original and what was unpacked
tar cvzf nidaqmx80.tar.gz rpms/ bin/

# Run the INSTALL script and everything should work
./INSTALL

Shawn Bohrer
National Instruments

[der_gaertner]

Hey Shawn

Thanks for the detailed and quick answer: I wasn't allowed to work "inbetween the years"
so I just tested it today. The installation ran through (output listed below), but there is still
an issue, probably related to the fact that I have Labview 8.2 instead of Labview 8 installed:
nilsdev works but not DAQmxTestPanels.

    > nilsdev
    NI PCI-6713: "Dev1"

    > DAQmxTestPanels
    Can't load LabVIEW runtime library /usr/local/lib/liblvrt.so.8.0
    libOSMesa.so.4: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

I do however also have a file /usr/local/lib/liblvrt.so.8.2 for which ldd shows that all linked
libraries are found.
Should I have pointed to my LV 8.2 in /usr/local/natinst/LabVIEW-8.2 when asked for the
support files?

Thanks and a happy New Year

       Matthias




> ./INSTALL

*****************************************************************************
  NI-DAQmx for Linux Installer Distribution
     version 8.0.0f1 for Linux/x86 32-bit

.........................

Do you accept the license? [ynq] y

LabVIEW 8.0 not detected
Manually specify a location for LabVIEW 8.0 support files? [yN] n

NI-DAQmx for Linux Installer Distribution version 8.0.0f1
is about to be installed using rpm at /usr/local/natinst

LabVIEW 8.0 support will be skipped.

Would you like to continue? [Yn] y

Installing NI-DAQmx for Linux Installer Distribution version 8.0.0f1...
Skipping nikali-1.2.0-f0.i386.rpm installation, same or newer already installed.
Skipping nipali-1.10.2-f0.i386.rpm installation, same or newer already installed.
Skipping nidimi-1.3.1-f0.i386.rpm installation, same or newer already installed.
Skipping niorbi-1.3.1-f0.i386.rpm installation, same or newer already installed.
Skipping nipxirmi-1.6.0-f0.i386.rpm installation, same or newer already installed.
Skipping nirpci-3.2.2-f1.i386.rpm installation, same or newer already installed.
Pre Installation .............................
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
   1:nimdbgi                ########################################### [  5%]
   2:nimxdfi                ########################################### [  9%]
   3:nimxpi                 ########################################### [ 14%]
   4:niscarabmm             ########################################### [ 18%]
   5:nistci                 ########################################### [ 23%]
   6:nimru2i                ########################################### [ 27%]
   7:nimxs                  ########################################### [ 32%]
   8:nidaqmxinfi            ########################################### [ 36%]
   9:nidaqmxhelp            ########################################### [ 41%]
  10:nidaqmxef              ########################################### [ 45%]
  11:nicdigi                ########################################### [ 50%]
  12:nitimingi              ########################################### [ 55%]
  13:labview80-rte          ########################################### [ 59%]
  14:nidaqmxcfgi            ########################################### [ 64%]
  15:nimioi                 ########################################### [ 68%]
  16:niscxi                 ########################################### [ 73%]
  17:ni653x                 ########################################### [ 77%]
  18:nidaqmxcapiexmp        ########################################### [ 82%]
  19:nidaqmxcapihelp        ########################################### [ 86%]
  20:nidaqmxcapii           ########################################### [ 91%]
  21:nidaqmxswitch          ########################################### [ 95%]
  22:nidsai                 ########################################### [100%]
Post Installation .............................

FOR PATENTS COVERING NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS PRODUCTS, REFER TO
THE PATENTS.txt FILE ON /root/Desktop/ni_daqmx_8.0_patched AND/OR
www.ni.com/patents

NI-DAQmx for Linux Installer Distribution Installation completed successfully.

[Shawn B.]

It is likely your system has a newer version of libOSMesa.so, which is why DAQmxTestPanels fails.  You have two choices:

1.  If you have LabVIEW installed then you likely have a version of libOSMesa.so.4 on your system, from LabVIEW, but the LabVIEW Run-time Engine doesn't know where to find it.  You may want to take a look at this post from me which I think provides enough details on how to fix it.

2.  You may be able to install an older version of libOSMesa, or simply make a symbolic link called libOSMesa.so.4 that points to the current version.  Of course If you have a newer version of libOSMesa and simply create a link things might not work because they may not be backwards compatible.

Let me know if that doesn't help, and I can probably provide some better instructions.

Shawn Bohrer
National Instruments

[der_gaertner]

Thanks, I found libOSMesa.so.4 and copied it to /usr/local/lib/linux.
However now I get:

    > DAQmxTestPanels
    Can't load LabVIEW runtime library /usr/local/lib/liblvrt.so.8.0
    /usr/local/lib/linux/libOSMesa.so.4: undefined symbol: _glapi_add_entrypoint

In a second question: where do I find the VI's to use with LV 8.2?
/usr/local/natinst/nidaqmx/examples/ has only an ansi_c subdirectory.

Matthias

[Shawn B.]

---

@der_gaertner wrote:
Thanks, I found libOSMesa.so.4 and copied it to /usr/local/lib/linux.
However now I get:

    > DAQmxTestPanels
    Can't load LabVIEW runtime library /usr/local/lib/liblvrt.so.8.0
    /usr/local/lib/linux/libOSMesa.so.4: undefined symbol: _glapi_add_entrypoint

---

The problem is now libGL.so, follow the same procedure from my previous post except look for libGL.so.

---

In a second question: where do I find the VI's to use with LV 8.2?
/usr/local/natinst/nidaqmx/examples/ has only an ansi_c subdirectory.

---

The LabVIEW examples get installed in the LabVIEW directory, and are usually found using the LabVIEW example finder.  

Shawn Bohrer
National Instruments

[der_gaertner]

DAQmxTestPanels works now too and I also got the VI's recompiled for LV 8.2.
Thanks for guiding me through this whole process.

However this whole procedure isn't exactly newbie friendly which leaves me with two questions:

Comparing   NI-DAQmx Base   2.1  from Sept 06 with  NI-DAQmx 8.0 from Dez. 05 it seems
that only the former is still getting  some development, correct?  If yes, shouldn't that be pointed out

at the general Linux DAQ page ?   Also the driver choice page  should list NI-DAQmx Base at
least as an alternative for all devices supported by both packages (I just assume here that
NI-DAQmx Base would have been a smoother ride for me).

Looking at the board structure one gets the impression that NI rather wants product specific than
operating system specific boards. But even with search engines it is sometimes tricky to find
the right answer for a given combination of Linux distribution, LV version, problem and skill level.
So how about some wiki for us fringe linux users? This would probably also save you some time 🙂 .

Matthias

[Shawn B.]

---

@der_gaertner wrote:

Comparing   NI-DAQmx Base   2.1  from Sept 06 with  NI-DAQmx 8.0 from Dez. 05 it seems
that only the former is still getting  some development, correct?  If yes, shouldn't that be pointed out
at the general Linux DAQ page?   Also the driver choice page should list NI-DAQmx Base at
least as an alternative for all devices supported by both packages (I just assume here that
NI-DAQmx Base would have been a smoother ride for me).

---

NI-DAQmx Base is a more nimble driver, and thus it is easier for us to update and provide frequent releases.  This is the same reason NI-DAQmx Base is first to support new platforms like Linux and Mac OS X.  However this advantage is also its disadvantage since NI-DAQmx Base only supports a subset of the functionality of NI-DAQmx.  For example if you need to use SCXI or SCC signal conditioning hardware you will need to use NI-DAQmx.

I would not go so far as to say that NI-DAQmx is not receiving any more development, but I would agree that since NI-DAQmx Base receives more updates it will be easier to install on newer Linux distributions.  In general I personally would recommend using NI-DAQmx Base until you find that you need some of the extra functionality of NI-DAQmx.  I appreciate your feedback and I've passed it along to those that have the power to update the pages you mentioned.

---

Looking at the board structure one gets the impression that NI rather wants product specific than
operating system specific boards. But even with search engines it is sometimes tricky to find
the right answer for a given combination of Linux distribution, LV version, problem and skill level.
So how about some wiki for us fringe linux users? This would probably also save you some time 🙂 .

---

This suggestion an interesting suggestion.  Perhaps we will see a NI wiki at some point, though I suspect something like that would take some time.  In a way the NI KnowledgeBase is much like a wiki that only NI employees can update, and you'll likely find the answers to many of your questions there. 

I also find the discussion forums that you are currently using are a great resource (I answered your question didn't I?).  As you mentioned it is currently sorted by product instead of operating system which can make it more difficult to find Linux specific answers.  I personally periodically search the boards for "Linux" and answer any questions that I can.  We also very recently have added tagging to the forums, which may make it easier to find posts related to Linux.

Shawn Bohrer
National Instruments

[der_gaertner]

Shawn

Let me just add: I didn't mean to complain.
I do *very much* appreciate your quick responses
and in general the fact that NI does support Linux.
All I was looking for was a more centralized starting
point for linux related questions.

Matthias

[Shawn B.]

---

der_gaertner wrote:
So how about some wiki for us fringe linux users? This would probably also save you some time 🙂 .

---

We just created a new Linux Users community.  It has a wiki like interface so you may be interested in joining.

Shawn Bohrer

National Instruments