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Build and Install StreamDevice on Raspberry Pi (20 minutes)

By following these instructions, you will build and install StreamDevice, a supplemental package for EPICS.

StreamDevice will facilitate your serial communication with Ethernet devices and USB devices (such as an Arduino).

References

  1. EPICS 7 getting started guide
  2. StreamDevice setup guide

Pre-requisites

  • EPICS v7 is already installed on your Raspberry Pi, per prior instructions
  • Capability to SSH into your Raspberry Pi
  • Working internet connection for your Raspberry Pi

Materials

  • Local area network
  • Laptop / computer, connected to local area network
  • Raspberry Pi, connected to local area network

Steps

SSH into your Raspberry Pi.

Follow the prior instructions to SSH into your Raspberry Pi from your Laptop / Computer.

Install dependencies for StreamDevice (10 minutes)

Install PCRE packages
sudo apt install -y libpcre3 libpcre3-dev

Note: libpcre3 (runtime files) is probably already installed, but libpcre3-dev (include files, etc) is probably not.

(Optional) Verify PCRE installation

Check that /usr/include/ now contains header files for PCRE, such as pcre.h, and that /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ now contains files such as libpcre.so. You can do this in at least two ways:

(Optional) Option A for verification: Go check out package details for libpcre3 and libpcre3-dev and see where items went

See the official Debian references online for package lists, then go to "list files" under your architecture.

(Optional) Option B for verification: Call these two commands:

Call whereis pcre. This returns for my system: 

pcre: /usr/include/pcre.h /usr/share/man/man3/pcre.3.gz

Then, call whereis libpcre. This returns for my system:

libpcre: /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libpcre.a /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libpcre32.so /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libpcre.so /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libpcre32.a /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libpcre16.a /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libpcre16.so

Compile and install asyn

The asyn EPICS support module is another pre-requisite for streamDevice.

Navigate into the directory you made to hold EPICS items, into which you cloned the epics-base repository, and create a new folder to hold support items for EPICS base (e.g. additional modules).

cd $HOME/EPICS
mkdir support
cd support

Download asynDriver module source code and navigate into the folder

git clone https://github.com/epics-modules/asyn.git
cd asyn

Edit the configure/RELEASE file for asyn.

nano configure/RELEASE

#RELEASE Location of external products

SUPPORT=/home/pi/EPICS/support

#  IPAC is only necessary if support for Greensprings IP488 is required
#  IPAC release V2-7 or later is required.
# IPAC=$(SUPPORT)/ipac-2-15

# SEQ is required for testIPServer
# SNCSEQ=$(SUPPORT)/seq-2-2-5

## For sCalcout support in asynOctet - applications include asynCalc.dbd
# CALC=$(SUPPORT)/calc-3-7-3

# If CALC was built with SSCAN support then SSCAN must be defined for testEpicsApp
# SSCAN=$(SUPPORT)/sscan-2-11-3

#  EPICS_BASE 3.14.6 or later is required
EPICS_BASE=/home/pi/EPICS/epics-base

-include $(TOP)/../RELEASE.local
-include $(TOP)/../RELEASE.$(EPICS_HOST_ARCH).local
-include $(TOP)/configure/RELEASE.local

Above, we have edited the file to:

  1. Comment out unneeded lines IPAC, SEQ, CALC, SSCAN, etc.

  2. Set the SUPPORT and EPICS_BASE variables to point to the right folders for your computer

Save this file and then build the software.

make -j8

(took me about five minutes)

Compile and install StreamDevice

Navigate back into the directory you made to hold EPICS support items.

cd $HOME/EPICS/support

Download StreamDevice module source code and navigate into the folder

git clone https://github.com/paulscherrerinstitute/StreamDevice.git
cd StreamDevice

Edit the configure/RELEASE file for StreamDevice.

nano configure/RELEASE

#RELEASE Location of external products
# Run "gnumake clean uninstall install" in the application
# top directory each time this file is changed.
#
# NOTE: The build does not check dependencies on files
# external to this application. Thus you should run
# "gnumake clean uninstall install" in the top directory
# each time EPICS_BASE, SNCSEQ, or any other external
# module defined in the RELEASE file is rebuilt.

TEMPLATE_TOP=$(EPICS_BASE)/templates/makeBaseApp/top

# If you don't want to install into $(TOP) then
# define INSTALL_LOCATION_APP here
#INSTALL_LOCATION_APP=<fullpathname>

SUPPORT=$(TOP)/..
-include $(TOP)/../configure/SUPPORT.$(EPICS_HOST_ARCH)

ASYN=$(SUPPORT)/asyn
#CALC=$(SUPPORT)/calc-3-7
#PCRE=$(SUPPORT)/pcre-7-2

# EPICS_BASE usually appears last so other apps can override stuff:
EPICS_BASE=/home/pi/EPICS/epics-base

# These lines allow developers to override these RELEASE settings
# without having to modify this file directly.
-include $(TOP)/../RELEASE.local
-include $(TOP)/../RELEASE.$(EPICS_HOST_ARCH).local
-include $(TOP)/configure/RELEASE.local

Above, we have edited the configure/RELEASE file such that:

  1. Fix the "ASYN" line to match your actual file path from above: ASYN=$(SUPPORT)/asyn

  2. Comment out the "CALC" and "PCRE" lines

  3. Set the EPICS_BASE variable to point to the right folder for your computer (SUPPORT is already set up OK)

Next, edit the architecture-specific RELEASE file configure/RELEASE.Common.${EPICS_HOST_ARCH} for StreamDevice, so that it locates the pcre libraries you installed earlier:

nano configure/RELEASE.Common.${EPICS_HOST_ARCH}

(This will create a new file to edit)

Based on examining the outputs of whereis pcre and whereis libpcre (see the earlier step where we were installing the PCRE dependency), add the following to configure/RELEASE.Common.${EPICS_HOST_ARCH} that match the path prefixes for our system:

PCRE_INCLUDE=/usr/include
PCRE_LIB=/usr/lib

Save the new file, then run make (or make -j8 for faster results).