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.