Installation¶

Quick Install¶

Linux¶

Distribution packages:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install opentracelab
# Fedora
sudo dnf install opentracelab
# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S opentracelab

AppImage (recommended for latest version):

# Download and run
chmod +x OpenTraceView-NIGHTLY-x86_64.AppImage
./OpenTraceView-NIGHTLY-x86_64.AppImage

Windows¶

Download the Windows installer from GitHub Releases
Run the installer as Administrator
Launch OpenTraceView from the Start Menu

macOS¶

# Using Homebrew
brew install opentracelab
# Or download the .dmg from GitHub Releases

Building from Source¶

Prerequisites¶

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt install build-essential meson ninja-build pkg-config git \
  libglib2.0-dev libglibmm-2.4-dev libzip-dev libusb-1.0-0-dev \
  libftdi1-dev libserialport-dev libhidapi-dev python3-dev \
  qt6-base-dev qt6-svg-dev libboost-serialization-dev libboost-system-dev

Fedora/RHEL:

sudo dnf install gcc-c++ meson ninja-build pkgconfig git \
  glib2-devel glibmm24-devel libzip-devel libusb1-devel \
  libftdi-devel libserialport-devel hidapi-devel python3-devel \
  qt6-qtbase-devel qt6-qtsvg-devel boost-devel

macOS (with Homebrew):

brew install meson ninja pkg-config git glib glibmm libzip libusb \
  libftdi libserialport hidapi python3 qt6 boost

Build All Components¶

# 1. OpenTraceCapture (core library)
git clone https://github.com/OpenTraceLab/OpenTraceCapture.git
cd OpenTraceCapture
meson setup build --buildtype=release
meson compile -C build
sudo meson install -C build
cd ..

# 2. OpenTraceDecode (protocol decoders)
git clone https://github.com/OpenTraceLab/OpenTraceDecode.git
cd OpenTraceDecode  
meson setup build --buildtype=release
meson compile -C build
sudo meson install -C build
cd ..

# 3. OpenTraceView (GUI application)
git clone https://github.com/OpenTraceLab/OpenTraceView.git
cd OpenTraceView
meson setup builddir --buildtype=release
meson compile -C builddir
sudo meson install -C builddir

Build Options¶

OpenTraceCapture options:

# Enable all optional features
meson setup build -Dwith_nettle=enabled -Dwith_ieee1284=enabled -Dwith_gpib=enabled

# Custom installation prefix
meson setup build --prefix=/usr/local

OpenTraceDecode options:

# Disable Python support (C API only)
meson setup build -Dpython=disabled

# Specify minimum Python version
meson setup build -Dpython_minver=3.8

OpenTraceView options:

# Disable protocol decoding
meson setup builddir -Ddecode=false

# Enable debug stacktraces
meson setup builddir -Dstacktrace=true

Device Access¶

Linux udev Rules¶

For USB device access, install udev rules:

sudo cp contrib/60-opentracelab.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger

Add your user to the plugdev group:

sudo usermod -a -G plugdev $USER

Log out and back in for changes to take effect.

Troubleshooting¶

Cannot access USB device¶

Install udev rules (Linux)
Run as Administrator (Windows)
Check device permissions

Library not found¶

sudo ldconfig
# Or set LD_LIBRARY_PATH
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

Python module errors¶

# Ensure Python development packages are installed
sudo apt install python3-dev python3-setuptools