Is the python wrapper install steps supposed to work on RPi Zero too? #853

alanmiller · 2022-07-18T00:57:02Z

I built and installed the rf24libs on my RPi 3B+ and my Pi Zero W and it partially worked as described
in https://nrf24.github.io/RF24/md_docs_linux_install.html

My Pi3B can transmit and my PiZero can receive, BUT I cant get the Pi3B to receive and the PiZero to transmit.

Then I tried to build the python3 wrapper on both Pis via steps in https://nrf24.github.io/RF24/md_docs_python_wrapper.html

On the RPi 3B+ I ran "python3 setup.py build" and "python3 setup.py install" in rf24libs/RF24/pyRF24 directory.
and the RF24 module is installed in:
/usr/local/lib/python3.9/dist-packages/RF24-1.4.3-py3.9-linux-armv7l.egg

On the Pi Zero W I ran the same commands and it says it installed the wrapper but I get this error when running
python3 getting_started.py

  root@pizero:~/NRF24L01/rf24libs/RF24/examples_linux# python3 getting_started.py
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "/root/NRF24L01/rf24libs/RF24/examples_linux/getting_started.py", line 9, in <module>
      from RF24 import RF24, RF24_PA_LOW
  ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'RF24'

Both Pis are running Bullseye

  root@rpi3b:~/NRF24L01/rf24libs/RF24/examples_linux# lsb_release -d
  Description:	Raspbian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)

  root@pizero:~/NRF24L01/rf24libs/RF24/examples_linux# lsb_release -d
  Description:	Raspbian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)

When I installed the wrapper on Pi Zero W I got this

root@pizero:~/NRF24L01/rf24libs/RF24/pyRF24# python3 setup.py install
librf24.so found at /usr/local/lib
running install
/usr/local/lib/python3.9/dist-packages/setuptools/command/install.py:34: SetuptoolsDeprecationWarning: setup.py install is deprecated. Use build and pip and other standards-based tools.
  warnings.warn(
/usr/local/lib/python3.9/dist-packages/setuptools/command/easy_install.py:144: EasyInstallDeprecationWarning: easy_install command is deprecated. Use build and pip and other standards-based tools.
  warnings.warn(
running bdist_egg
running egg_info
writing RF24.egg-info/PKG-INFO
writing dependency_links to RF24.egg-info/dependency_links.txt
writing top-level names to RF24.egg-info/top_level.txt
reading manifest file 'RF24.egg-info/SOURCES.txt'
adding license file '/root/NRF24L01/rf24libs/RF24/LICENSE'
writing manifest file 'RF24.egg-info/SOURCES.txt'
installing library code to build/bdist.linux-armv6l/egg
running install_lib
running build_ext
creating build/bdist.linux-armv6l
creating build/bdist.linux-armv6l/egg
copying build/lib.linux-armv6l-cpython-39/RF24.cpython-39-arm-linux-gnueabihf.so -> build/bdist.linux-armv6l/egg
creating stub loader for RF24.cpython-39-arm-linux-gnueabihf.so
byte-compiling build/bdist.linux-armv6l/egg/RF24.py to RF24.cpython-39.pyc
creating build/bdist.linux-armv6l/egg/EGG-INFO
copying RF24.egg-info/PKG-INFO -> build/bdist.linux-armv6l/egg/EGG-INFO
copying RF24.egg-info/SOURCES.txt -> build/bdist.linux-armv6l/egg/EGG-INFO
copying RF24.egg-info/dependency_links.txt -> build/bdist.linux-armv6l/egg/EGG-INFO
copying RF24.egg-info/top_level.txt -> build/bdist.linux-armv6l/egg/EGG-INFO
writing build/bdist.linux-armv6l/egg/EGG-INFO/native_libs.txt
zip_safe flag not set; analyzing archive contents...
__pycache__.RF24.cpython-39: module references __file__
creating 'dist/RF24-1.4.3-py3.9-linux-armv6l.egg' and adding 'build/bdist.linux-armv6l/egg' to it
removing 'build/bdist.linux-armv6l/egg' (and everything under it)
Processing RF24-1.4.3-py3.9-linux-armv6l.egg
removing '/usr/lib/python3.9/site-packages/RF24-1.4.3-py3.9-linux-armv6l.egg' (and everything under it)
creating /usr/lib/python3.9/site-packages/RF24-1.4.3-py3.9-linux-armv6l.egg
Extracting RF24-1.4.3-py3.9-linux-armv6l.egg to /usr/lib/python3.9/site-packages
RF24 1.4.3 is already the active version in easy-install.pth

Installed /usr/lib/python3.9/site-packages/RF24-1.4.3-py3.9-linux-armv6l.egg
Processing dependencies for RF24==1.4.3
Finished processing dependencies for RF24==1.4.3

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

2bndy5 · 2022-07-18T06:02:40Z

You can check if the module is installed by using pip list. I noticed you're using bullseye, so there should be no Python 2 installed (which has caused conflicts in the past).

You used the older install instructions. Those won't work for 64 bit OS. If you're using the 64 bit (which might only work on the latest variant of RPi0), then you need to use the CMake instructions. Going forward, these CMake instructions are preferred because they make no assumption about the available compilers.

If you built the C++ libs using the SPIDEV driver, then there's no need to use sudo when running python setup.py install, as that would actually cause the install path to be incorrect when running examples without sudo.

I highly recommend using a venv, but that is completely optional.

python -m venv env
source ./env/bin/activate

Again, using sudo within an activated python venv, defeats the purpose of having the venv because it changes the install path.

We have a newer python package that's meant to be easier than installing the C++ libs and associated python wrappers. You can try that out (meant to be drop-in compatible) by visiting https://nRF24.github.io/pyRF24 It comes with networking, mesh and a BLE API. Best of all, it doesn't use the same C++ RF24* libs installed on your system (it builds the libs in isolation).

2bndy5 · 2022-07-21T13:01:16Z

@alanmiller Is this resolved now? Was using sudo the problem? I ask because you're the second person to report this problem about "RF24 module not found" (in recent months). If the advice about not using sudo during py wrapper install is helpful, then I'll augment the docs' build instructions.

alanmiller · 2022-07-21T14:06:04Z

I switched to the packaged versions of RF24 and RF24Network

pi@pizero ~/PYRF24 $ apt list --installed |grep ^rf24
rf24/now 1.4.4 armhf [installed,local]
rf24network/now 1.0.17 armhf [installed,local]

and tried to build the new Python wrapper but got errors

pi@pizero ~/PYRF24 $ sudo apt install python3-rpi.gpio
pi@pizero ~/PYRF24 $ sudo apt install python3-dev cmake
pi@pizero ~/PYRF24 $ git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/nRF24/pyRF24.git
pi@pizero ~/PYRF24 $ cd pyRF24
pi@pizero ~/PYRF24/pyRF24 $ sudo python -m pip install .
Looking in indexes: https://pypi.org/simple, https://www.piwheels.org/simple
Processing /home/pi/PYRF24/pyRF24
  Installing build dependencies ... \
...
  ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1:

Full output attached.

pyrf24-build.log

2bndy5 · 2022-07-21T14:30:03Z

Thanks for the log. Looks like there was a problem when installing cmake from pypi. Removing the cmake dependency from the pkg will require users manually install cmake (likely from apt). This can be done locally by removing the line from the pyRF24/pyproject.toml

 [build-system]
 requires = [
     "setuptools>=45",
     "wheel",
     "pybind11>=2.7.1; sys_platform == 'linux'",
     "scikit-build; sys_platform == 'linux'",
-    "cmake; sys_platform == 'linux'",
     "ninja; sys_platform == 'linux'",
     "setuptools_scm>=6.2"
 ]

then installing cmake on its own

sudo apt install cmake

I'll try to reproduce and remedy this...

Note you don't need the C++ libs installed for pyrf24 pkg - they are built from git submodules within the pyrf24 repo. The C++ libs only need to be installed for installing the individual wrappers.

WARNING

If you're going to retry installing the individual python wrappers, you should remove the previously installed C++ RF24 libs from /usr/local/lib & /usr/local/include because the deb/rpm pkgs install to /usr/lib & /usr/include. That way the linker doesn't get confused, and we ensure that the RF24 libs from the deb/rpm pkgs are properly used.

sudo rm -r /usr/local/lib/librf24.so* /usr/local/include/RF24/

2bndy5 · 2022-07-21T14:38:17Z

sudo python -m pip install .

PLEASE stop using sudo when running python or pip. You shouldn't need root access to install python modules/pkgs. Doing so alters the python runtime env and limits where python looks for installed modules/pkgs.

2bndy5 · 2022-07-21T15:00:38Z

I can reproduce the build error using pip install .. However, the process is fine if I run

pip install -r requirements.txt
python setup.py bdist_wheel
pip install dist/pyrf24*.whl

With no modifications to the pyrf24 lib.

alanmiller · 2022-07-21T17:54:05Z

After I posted last, I tried building the wheel and it worked.

pi@pizero ~/PYRF24/pyRF24 $ sudo python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt
pi@pizero ~/PYRF24/pyRF24 $ python setup.py bdist_wheel
....
pi@pizero ~/PYRF24/pyRF24 $ sudo python3 -m pip install  dist/pyrf24-0.1.dev138+gff659b5-cp39-cp39-linux_armv6l.whl
Looking in indexes: https://pypi.org/simple, https://www.piwheels.org/simple
Processing ./dist/pyrf24-0.1.dev138+gff659b5-cp39-cp39-linux_armv6l.whl
Installing collected packages: pyrf24
Successfully installed pyrf24-0.1.dev138+gff659b5

The example works now:

pi@pizero ~/PYRF24/pyRF24 $ cd examples
pi@pizero ~/PYRF24/pyRF24/examples $ python3   getting_started.py  -r 1
Which radio is this? Enter '0' or '1'. Defaults to '0' 1
================ SPI Configuration ================
CSN Pin		= /dev/spidev0.1
CE Pin		= Custom GPIO13
SPI Speedz	= 10 Mhz
================ NRF Configuration ================
STATUS		= 0x0e RX_DR=0 TX_DS=0 MAX_RT=0 RX_P_NO=7 TX_FULL=0
RX_ADDR_P0-1	= 0x65646f4e32 0x65646f4e31
RX_ADDR_P2-5	= 0xc3 0xc4 0xc5 0xc6
TX_ADDR		= 0x65646f4e32
RX_PW_P0-6	= 0x04 0x04 0x04 0x04 0x04 0x04
EN_AA		= 0x3f
EN_RXADDR	= 0x03
RF_CH		= 0x4c
RF_SETUP	= 0x03
CONFIG		= 0x0e
DYNPD/FEATURE	= 0x00 0x00
Data Rate	= 1 MBPS
Model		= nRF24L01+
CRC Length	= 16 bits
PA Power	= PA_LOW
ARC		= 15
getting_started.py
Transmission successful! Time to Transmit: 826.995 us. Sent: 0.0
Transmission successful! Time to Transmit: 835.994 us. Sent: 0.01
Transmission successful! Time to Transmit: 949.993 us. Sent: 0.02

2bndy5 · 2022-07-21T17:58:56Z

I'm in the process of updating the pyrf24 package. I hope to be able to build and distribute wheels to pypi in the future (see nRF24/pyRF24#6) which would bypass the need to manually build the wheel (and make install much quicker). For now, I'll just change the README to instruct using the bdist_wheel command... Turns out the setup.py install command is now deprecated.

alanmiller added the question label Jul 18, 2022

alanmiller closed this as completed Jul 21, 2022

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Is the python wrapper install steps supposed to work on RPi Zero too? #853

Is the python wrapper install steps supposed to work on RPi Zero too? #853

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Is the python wrapper install steps supposed to work on RPi Zero too? #853

Is the python wrapper install steps supposed to work on RPi Zero too? #853

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