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libfobos-sdr-agile

Host library for RigExpert Fobos SDR boards running the "agile" firmware

What it does

The host library for the RigExpert Fobos SDR when it runs the "agile" firmware family: the same board, opened through a different API with "agile" controls, a fast frequency-scan mode and automatic receive bandwidth, which the original libfobos does not have. It builds a shared library only here; upstream's four example programs are built but not installed.

Why you would want it

You do not install it for itself. The SoapySDR module for the Fobos links both libraries, so without this one soapysdr-module-fobos will not build, whichever firmware your board runs. Upstream's README says the two libraries can be installed side by side.

Before it will work

None beyond a compiler and CMake to build it. To use a board with it you need the fobos-sdr hardware entry's udev rule and group, and firmware of the agile family: upstream says hardware revisions 2 and 3 need special firmware loaded for it and revision 4 and higher run it natively.

How it installs

  • git (cmake) — https://github.com/rigexpert/libfobos-sdr-agile at v.3.3.0 (commit 2753965dee361267df86e4a713b8278ad9ae46bb)
  • build dependencies: build-essential, cmake, pkg-config, patch, libusb-1.0-0-dev
  • Built on 2026-10-02 in rootless containers the way this block runs it (patch, cmake configure, cmake --build --parallel 2, cmake --install into /usr/local): debian:13, ubuntu:24.04, ubuntu:26.04 and kali-rolling all exit 0 in about a second with no compiler warnings. The install leaves libfobos_sdr.so, fobos_sdr.h and libfobos_sdr.pc under the prefix. Upstream builds four tools (fobos_sdr_devinfo, fobos_sdr_recorder, fobos_sdr_scanner, fobos_sdr_fwloader) and installs none of them; this unit does not copy them out, so only the library is carried. Built on x86_64 only; arm64 is unmeasured. Not measured: a board.

Files its install rule leaves under the prefix, checked after the run and never copied or removed by the engine:

  • lib/libfobos_sdr.so
  • lib/pkgconfig/libfobos_sdr.pc
  • include/fobos_sdr.h

Known problems

The agile and original libraries open different boards. Both look for USB 16d0:132e, and they are told apart by bcdDevice: this library opens 0x0101, libfobos opens 0x0000. A board running one firmware is invisible to the other library. This build deletes upstream's udev install rule (it wrote an absolute /etc path outside the plan); see the patch. The tree is carried as a library only. Not measured: everything that needs a board.

Keeping it current

  • probe: github tags (rigexpert/libfobos-sdr-agile)
  • strategy: rebuild
  • Six tags (1.0 in December 2024, then v.3.0.1 to v.3.3.0, two of them in 2026), and the head is the newest tag, 2026-07-17. The tag and its commit move together. The tag names begin "v." with a dot and one is a bare "1.0", which a tag-sorting probe may order oddly; read the list by eye.

Where to get help with the software itself

Issues on the repository above and rigexpert.com, who make the hardware. Licence: LGPL-2.1.

Source: catalog/packages/libfobos-sdr-agile.yaml