Running CHIRP on Linux¶

This page describes how to get the newer python3-based CHIRP-next running on Linux.

Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Raspbian, etc¶

Install prerequisite packages:

$ sudo apt install git python3-wxgtk4.0 python3-serial python3-six python3-future python3-requests python3-pip

You should be able to install either the wheel or the tarball using pip:

$ pip3 install chirp-next-20230114.tar.gz

NOTE: Your system may install pip as pip3 like above, or just pip

If you run the above command as a regular user, the chirp executable will be installed into ~/.local/bin/chirp. If you run it as root, then it will be in /usr/local/bin/chirp as you might normally expect.

Create a desktop (menu) entry¶

This can be placed in /usr/share/applications/chirp.desktop to have a menu entry added. Or it can be placed on the desktop itself to add an icon.

[Desktop Entry]
Name=CHiRP-next
Comment=Program radios using CHiRP
Keywords=ham radio
Exec=/usr/local/bin/chirp
Icon=/usr/local/lib/python3.9/dist-packages/chirp/share/chirp.ico
Terminal=false
StartupNotify=true
Type=Application
Categories=HamRadio

If you have installed chirp for your user only, then use paths for your home directory: ~/.local/share/applications/chirp.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Name=CHiRP-next (user install)
Comment=Program radios using CHiRP
Keywords=ham radio
Exec=.local/bin/chirp
Icon=.local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/chirp/share/chirp.ico
Terminal=false
StartupNotify=true
Type=Application
Categories=HamRadio

(Optional) Newer wxPython¶

You may want to install a newer wxPython, depending on what your distro ships. For Debian-derived distros (including Ubuntu and Mint) you can do that with a command like:

pip3 install -U -f https://extras.wxpython.org/wxPython4/extras/linux/gtk3/ubuntu-20.04 wxPython

Check the directory listing for other distro versions and use the closest match to what you're on. NOTE that this will not work for non-x86_64 machines (like the Raspberry Pi) as there are no binary builds for those platforms.

Serial port permissions¶

Note that you may need to adjust permissions on the /dev/tty(something) device, or add your users who want to use CHIRP to the "dialout" group in order to let non-privileged users access the serial device.

This issue is often indicated by an "access denied" error when accessing serial port.

On most Linux distros this is accomplished with:

sudo addgroup "$USERNAME" dialout

For other distributions, such as Manjaro, you may need to add your user to the uucp group.

You will then need to log out and back in for it to take effect.