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== LiveCd ==
<categorytree style="float:right; clear:right; margin-left:1ex; border: 1px solid gray; padding: 0.7ex;" mode=pages>Installation</categorytree>
__TOC__


The LiveCD is the easiest way to start with Paparazzi: no installation is required and no changes are made to your computer. Simply burn the image as a boot CD and reboot! The LiveCD includes the complete paparazzi binary package (code source, tools and cross compilers). Usage is described in the next section.
'''<span style="color:red">This page only describes the installation of the prerequisite tools and dependencies on Debian/Ubuntu needed for Paparazzi.</span>'''
 
'''See the general [[Installation]] page for how to [[Installation#Getting_the_Source_Code|download Paparazzi]] and [[Installation#Launching_the_Software|launching it]] after you followed the instructions here.'''
 
== Introduction ==
 
Paparazzi is very easily installed on any laptop or workstation running [http://www.ubuntu.com/ Ubuntu], [http://www.debian.org/ Debian] (or any of their derivatives).
 
The steps required to install the software needed to be able to let your UAS fly
<ul>
<li>[[Installation/Linux#Installation_of_dependencies|Install the basic Paparazzi dependencies]] and the [[Installation/Linux#ARM_embedded_toolchain|ARM cross compiling toolchain.]]
<li>[[Installation#Getting_the_Source_Code|Download the source code from the source repository.]]
<li>Allow access to your PC hardware connection by adding appropriate [[Udev]] rules.
<li>[[Installation#Launching_the_Software|Compile the binaries from the sources and launch the software.]]
</ul>
 
Users of other Linux flavors than a recent Ubuntu or Debian and anyone needing manual control of each individual package can [[Installation/Manual|install them independently]].
 
===For the impatient===
 
For Ubuntu add the [https://launchpad.net/~paparazzi-uav/+archive/ppa paparazzi-uav ppa] <tt>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:paparazzi-uav/ppa</tt> and install the <tt>paparazzi-dev</tt> package.
 
Since Paparazzi v5.0 the [https://launchpad.net/gcc-arm-embedded/ gcc-arm-embedded toolchain] is recommended.
Available as of Ubuntu 14.04, on older versions it can be [[Installation/Linux#ARM_embedded_toolchain|installed via tarball]].
 
Or just use the [[Installation#Quickstart_on_Ubuntu_12.04|Quickstart for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS]].
 
== Installation video Tutorials ==
 
{{#ev:youtubehd|SshFJrBuku8}} {{#ev:youtubehd|eW0PCSjrP78}}
 
== Installation of dependencies ==
 
=== Ubuntu ===
'''Binary packages for Ubuntu are available for the ''i386'', ''amd64'' and ''armhf'' architectures.'''
 
Add the installation sources for the Paparazzi software packages. Run from a terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:paparazzi-uav/ppa
 
Then update the systems package inventory and install the main Paparazzi software dependencies. This will take some time.
sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get install paparazzi-dev
 
=== Debian ===
'''Binary packages for Debian are available for the ''i386'' and ''amd64'' architectures. ''armhf'' packages seem to be currently not supported by the OpenSUSE build service.'''
 
For Debian Wheezy (7.0), Jessie (8.0), Stretch (9.0) and Buster (10) packages are built using the [http://openbuildservice.org/ Open Build Service (OBS)] on [https://build.opensuse.org/project/show?project=home%3Aflixr%3Apaparazzi-uav OpenSUSE Build Service project home:flixr:paparazzi-uav]
 
[http://software.opensuse.org/download/package?project=home:flixr:paparazzi-uav&package=paparazzi-dev Install paparazzi-dev]
 
First add the key:
wget -q "http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/flixr:/paparazzi-uav/Debian_10/Release.key" -O- | sudo apt-key add -
 
Add the appropriate repo, depending on your Debian version to sources.list
echo "deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/flixr:/paparazzi-uav/Debian_10/ ./" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
echo "deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/flixr:/paparazzi-uav/Debian_9.0/ ./" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
echo "deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/flixr:/paparazzi-uav/Debian_8.0/ ./" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
echo "deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/flixr:/paparazzi-uav/Debian_7.0/ ./" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
 
Update the systems package inventory and install the main Paparazzi software dependencies.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install paparazzi-dev
 
== ARM embedded toolchain ==
 
For current Paparazzi versions (v5.0 and above) the [https://launchpad.net/gcc-arm-embedded/ gcc-arm-embedded toolchain] is recommended, which also supports the STM32F4 with FPU (hardware floating point).
 
=== gcc-arm-none-eabi as Debian/Ubuntu package ===
 
'''This is the recommended method'''
 
Note that there are actually two '''different''' toolchains available!
* [https://launchpad.net/gcc-arm-embedded/ ARM gcc-arm-embedded toolchain] with Debian package name ''gcc-arm-embedded''
** includes libstdc++ and newlib-nano
* [https://packages.debian.org/jessie/gcc-arm-none-eabi Debian gcc-arm-none-eabi toolchain]
** does not include libstdc++
** does not include newlib-nano
 
Both toolchains ''should'' work for most use-cases (if you don't need C++ or nano specs), although the [https://launchpad.net/gcc-arm-embedded/ ARM gcc-arm-embedded toolchain] is better tested.
 
==== gcc-arm-embedded toolchain ====
 
'''This is the recommended toolchain'''
 
On ''most'' Ubuntu versions the [https://launchpad.net/gcc-arm-embedded/ gcc-arm-embedded toolchain] can be installed as a debian package from the [https://launchpad.net/~team-gcc-arm-embedded/+archive/ubuntu/ppa ppa]:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-gcc-arm-embedded/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gcc-arm-embedded
 
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:800px">
Previously there was a PPA by terry.guo that contained this toolchain under the package name ''gcc-arm-none-eabi''
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
See https://launchpad.net/gcc-arm-embedded/+announcement/13824 for details on how to switch the newer
PPA and package.
</div></div>
 
==== gcc-arm-none-eabi Debian toolchain ====
 
Current Debian ('''jessie''') and Ubuntu (14.04 '''trusty''' and later) releases have the gcc-arm-none-eabi package in the official repositories ('''universe'''), and can be installed with:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gcc-arm-none-eabi gdb-arm-none-eabi
 
=== ARM gcc-arm-embedded tarball ===
Another way is to download and unpack the tarball and add it to your PATH:
 
* Download gcc-arm-none-eabi-*-*-linux.tar.bz2 from [https://launchpad.net/gcc-arm-embedded/+download External Downloads] section of ARM gcc-arm-embedded project
* Unpack it to a directory of your choice
* Add the bin folder in to your PATH
 
e.g.:
cd ~
wget https://launchpad.net/gcc-arm-embedded/4.7/4.7-2013-q2-update/+download/gcc-arm-none-eabi-4_7-2013q2-20130614-linux.tar.bz2
sudo tar -vjxf gcc-arm-none-eabi-4_7-2013q2-20130614-linux.tar.bz2 -C /opt
rm -r gcc-arm-none-eabi-4_7-2013q2-20130614-linux.tar.bz2
exportline="PATH=$PATH:/opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi-4_7-2013q2/bin"
if grep -Fxq "$exportline" ~/.profile; then echo nothing to do ; else echo $exportline >> ~/.profile; fi
source ~/.profile
 
The file .profile will be sourced in every bash after logging out and in again. Until then,
source ~/.profile
can be used for every bash individually.
 
If you can not access your toolchain with PATH working, look a the [[Installation/Linux#Troubleshooting]].
 
=== Old toolchain for Paparazzi v4.x and earlier ===
 
'''For Paparazzi v4.x''' and earlier you need to install the <tt>paparazzi-arm-multilib</tt> package. It has support for both ARM7 (i.e. Tiny,TWOG,YAPA autopilot boards) as well as STM32F1 (i.e. LISA boards).<br>
'''This toolchain does not properly support STM32F4 based autopilots!!'''
 
You can install it explicitly with:
sudo apt-get install paparazzi-arm-multilib
 
== Optional Packages ==
 
The packages <b>lpc21isp</b> and <b>openocd</b> are normally '''automatically installed''' as they are recommended packages of paparazzi-dev, '''if not''' you can manually install them via:
   
   
The CD image is available from the [[Downloads|Downloads]] page.
sudo apt-get install lpc21isp openocd


The Paparazzi demo is launchable on the Live CD from the Paparazzi icon.
<tt>lpc21isp</tt> is needed to serially flash the LPC2148 based autopilots (e.g. bootloader for tiny, twog, umarim), <tt>openocd</tt> is for flashing via JTAG (e.g. for Lisa boards) and debugging.


Knoppix allows for all the user data to be saved on a hard disk partition (most file systems are supported) or on a removable device (typically a USB pendrive). Note that this action is not destructive: the user data tree is compressed and stored on your file system as a single file (<tt>knoppix.img</tt>).
== Installing and running Paparazzi ==
* From the Knoppix menu (second from bottom left), choose '''Configure''', '''Create a persistent KNOPPIX disk image'''
* Choose your media (be sure to connect your USB pendrive before booting!)
* Choose if you want an encrypted filesystem (to protect your flight plan designed for the next MAV competition :-) )
* Choose the size of your home directory (100Mb is recommended)
On the next reboot, this saved state will be automatically located and loaded.


Using this persistent feature, the Paparazzix Live CD can really be used to configure, simulate and fly an aircraft with the Paparazzi system.
Please see [[Installation#Getting_the_Source_Code|Getting the Source Code on the general Installation page]] for details on downloading the Paparazzi source code, compiling and running it.


The Live CD can also be used to install a Debian system on the hard disk, using the <tt>knoppix-installer</tt> command. Be sure to backup the hard disk before trying ...
== Udev rules ==


== Installation on Debian ==
Add the appropriate [[Udev]] rule (available in fhe file ''50-paparazzi.rules'') to the USB handler.  Simply copy as root <tt>conf/system/udev/rules/50-paparazzi.rules</tt> to <tt>/etc/udev/rules.d/</tt>, e.g in a terminal:


Paparazzi is packaged for debian as well as all of its dependencies. The [http://www.recherche.enac.fr/paparazzi/debian repository] hosted at ENAC holds their latest version.
cd <your paparazzi directory>
sudo cp conf/system/udev/rules/50-paparazzi.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules


==== Manual package installation ====
See the [[Udev]] page for more details.
Just add
<tt>deb <nowiki>http://www.recherche.enac.fr/paparazzi/debian</nowiki> sarge main
#if needed deb <nowiki>http://www.recherche.enac.fr/paparazzi/debian etch main</nowiki></tt>
to your repository list (<tt>/etc/apt/sources.list</tt>). Then, update and install the package you are interested in:
<tt>apt-get update
apt-get install paparazzi-bin</tt>


==== GUI package installation ====
== Troubleshooting ==
* Launch ''Synaptic Package Manager'' (''Applications/System'' Tools Menu)
* In '''Settings/Repositories''', add a new repository on URI = '''<nowiki>http://www.recherche.enac.fr/paparazzi/debian</nowiki>''', Distribution = '''sarge''', Section = '''main'''
* Search for paparazzi-bin package (To find it easily, use ''Search'' Button)
* Mark it for installation (Right-click on package name)
* Left-click on ''Apply''


=== System wide install ===
=== No access rights for USB devices ===


The <tt>paparazzi-bin</tt> package contains the airborne source code and the tools you need to configure and control the UAV. It provides 3 main commands:
Some Linux distributions, don't allow standard (non admin) users to directly access the USB bus by default. On recent Ubuntu/Debian versions the first/main user is already a member of the ''plugdev'' group which should be sufficient for most cases.<br>
* <tt>paparazzi-make</tt> to compile the aircraft (and run the demo);
If you have problems, make yourself a member of the ''plugdev'' and ''dialout'' groups:
* <tt>paparazzi</tt> to run the ground control station supervision;
* <tt>paparazzi-gcs</tt> to run the flight plan editor.


Start with <tt>paparazzi-make init</tt> to initialize your configuration directory (<tt>~/paparazzi</tt>) and
sudo adduser <your login> plugdev
<tt>paparazzi-make demo</tt> to run the demo.
  sudo adduser <your login> dialout
   
You will have to also install the
<tt>paparazzi-avr</tt> or <tt>paparazzi-arm7</tt> packages which contain the cross compiler and architecture dependent tools needed to produce and upload the airborne programs on avr or arm7 architectures.


=== Source code install ===
Logout and login again.


Users who want to look at and modify the source code can install the required dependencies and download the code independently.
=== arm-none-eabi-gcc: Command not found ===
Appeared on Debian Wheezy 7 (gcc-arm-none-eabi-4_8-2013q4 installed via tarball)<br/>
If this error occurs, maybe the [https://packages.debian.org/de/wheezy/ia32-libs ia32-libs] are missing.


Installation of the meta-package '''paparazzi-dev''' will pull along all required dependencies.
Enable multiarch and install ia32-libs:
dpkg --add-architecture i386
apt-get update
apt-get install ia32-libs


After the packages is installed the paparazzi source code needs to be downloaded.
=== arm-linux-gnueabi-gcc cross-compiler not found ===
This can be done using CVS. See the [http://savannah.nongnu.org/cvs/?group=paparazzi project page] at savannah for details:
<tt>cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.savannah.nongnu.org:/sources/paparazzi co paparazzi3</tt>


A nightly tarball can also be fetched from the [[Downloads|Downloads]] page.
=== Ubuntu ===
apt-get install gcc-arm-linux-gnueabi


After extraction, go to the root of the source code and comile it:
=== Debian ===
Starting with jessie, there were [https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=771496#41 some changes] to the way cross-compilers are set up. To make it work you will have to add armel architecture and pick up some crossbuild tools.


  make
First edit your /etc/apt/sources.list and add the following line, to enable the emdebian repo:
  deb http://emdebian.org/tools/debian/ jessie main


now that it is compiled you can run a demo with:
Run the following command in your terminal to add the keys for it
curl http://emdebian.org/tools/debian/emdebian-toolchain-archive.key | sudo apt-key add -


  make demo
Then you could add armel architecture and fetch the missing cross-compiler packages
  dpkg --add-architecture armel
apt-get update
apt-get install crossbuild-essential-armel


When you are running your own simulations and aircraft you will compile first
You could find out more about cross-toolchains in jessie on debian [https://wiki.debian.org/CrossToolchains wiki page].


  make AIRCRAFT=''aircraft_name''
Note that some of your repos might not mirror embedded architectures, which would give you an error when you try to update the sources. In that case you will have to specify which architecture you do want from them by editing the corresponding entry in your sources.list file, in a way described [https://wiki.debian.org/Multiarch/HOWTO here]. Like in this example with the crunchbang repo you could specify it by adding [arch=amd64,i386] to the line, so you only enable amd64 and i386 architectures:
  deb [arch=amd64,i386] http://packages.crunchbang.org/waldorf waldorf main


then start the ground station with
===arm-none-eabi-gdb: error with libncurses.so.5===
Appeared on Xubuntu 14.04 LTS (gcc-arm-none-eabi-4_8-2013q4 installed via tarball)<br/>
Terminal output: arm-none-eabi-gdb: error while loading shared libraries: libncurses.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory


/paparazzi_folder/sw/supervision/paparazzi.pl
If this error occurs, maybe [http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=lib32ncurses5 lib32ncurses5] is missing. <br/>
Found on [https://answers.launchpad.net/gcc-arm-embedded/+question/226680 launchpad q&a]


If you receive a message similar to this:
=== FTDI serial adapter not working on old Ubuntu version ===


Directory /home/mcurrie/paparazzi doesn't exist
On older Linux distributions (not needed for lucid and later), the Braille TTY driver interferes with FTDI USB Serial adapters. If somehow your FTDI serial adapter does not work, remove the package via:
This directory is needed to store user configuration and data
Shall I create it and populate it with examples? (Y/n)


you can either rename your paparazzi folder to paparazzi and move it to /home/your_user or add the following lines to your .bashrc file in /home/''your_user''
sudo apt-get remove brltty


export PAPARAZZI_HOME=/home/''your_user''/''paparazzi_folder''
=== Code not starting on autopilot after changing gcc ===
export PAPARAZZI_SRC=/home/''your_user''/''paparazzi_folder''


== Installation on non Debian GNU/Linux ==
If you changed the toolchain (e.g. installed a new one for having FPU-Support for the F4), you need to run


You will have to compile and install the paparazzi package from the sources. Unfortunately no configure facilities is included in the package: you will have to figure out what is needed. The list of dependencies of the Debian package (listed in the <tt>debian/control</tt>) file is the best start.
make clean && make


== CVS Update ==
in sw/ext in order to rebuild the libs. Otherwise the embedded code can behave strange (most likely not start)
Keeping your software up to date is easy with the CVS system. To download any updated files simply add the CVS server to your <tt>/etc/apt/sources.list</tt>:
<nowiki>deb http://www.recherche.enac.fr/paparazzi/debian sarge main</nowiki>
<nowiki>deb http://www.recherche.enac.fr/paparazzi/debian etch main</nowiki>


and run the following command from your <tt>paparazzi/</tt> folder:
[[Category:Software]] [[Category:User_Documentation]] [[Category:Installation]]
cvs update

Latest revision as of 09:55, 5 February 2020

This page only describes the installation of the prerequisite tools and dependencies on Debian/Ubuntu needed for Paparazzi.

See the general Installation page for how to download Paparazzi and launching it after you followed the instructions here.

Introduction

Paparazzi is very easily installed on any laptop or workstation running Ubuntu, Debian (or any of their derivatives).

The steps required to install the software needed to be able to let your UAS fly

Users of other Linux flavors than a recent Ubuntu or Debian and anyone needing manual control of each individual package can install them independently.

For the impatient

For Ubuntu add the paparazzi-uav ppa sudo add-apt-repository ppa:paparazzi-uav/ppa and install the paparazzi-dev package.

Since Paparazzi v5.0 the gcc-arm-embedded toolchain is recommended. Available as of Ubuntu 14.04, on older versions it can be installed via tarball.

Or just use the Quickstart for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.

Installation video Tutorials

EmbedVideo does not recognize the video service "youtubehd".
EmbedVideo does not recognize the video service "youtubehd".

Installation of dependencies

Ubuntu

Binary packages for Ubuntu are available for the i386, amd64 and armhf architectures.

Add the installation sources for the Paparazzi software packages. Run from a terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:paparazzi-uav/ppa

Then update the systems package inventory and install the main Paparazzi software dependencies. This will take some time.

sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get install paparazzi-dev

Debian

Binary packages for Debian are available for the i386 and amd64 architectures. armhf packages seem to be currently not supported by the OpenSUSE build service.

For Debian Wheezy (7.0), Jessie (8.0), Stretch (9.0) and Buster (10) packages are built using the Open Build Service (OBS) on OpenSUSE Build Service project home:flixr:paparazzi-uav

Install paparazzi-dev

First add the key:

wget -q "http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/flixr:/paparazzi-uav/Debian_10/Release.key" -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Add the appropriate repo, depending on your Debian version to sources.list

echo "deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/flixr:/paparazzi-uav/Debian_10/ ./" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
echo "deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/flixr:/paparazzi-uav/Debian_9.0/ ./" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
echo "deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/flixr:/paparazzi-uav/Debian_8.0/ ./" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
echo "deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/flixr:/paparazzi-uav/Debian_7.0/ ./" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list

Update the systems package inventory and install the main Paparazzi software dependencies.

sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get install paparazzi-dev

ARM embedded toolchain

For current Paparazzi versions (v5.0 and above) the gcc-arm-embedded toolchain is recommended, which also supports the STM32F4 with FPU (hardware floating point).

gcc-arm-none-eabi as Debian/Ubuntu package

This is the recommended method

Note that there are actually two different toolchains available!

Both toolchains should work for most use-cases (if you don't need C++ or nano specs), although the ARM gcc-arm-embedded toolchain is better tested.

gcc-arm-embedded toolchain

This is the recommended toolchain

On most Ubuntu versions the gcc-arm-embedded toolchain can be installed as a debian package from the ppa:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-gcc-arm-embedded/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gcc-arm-embedded

Previously there was a PPA by terry.guo that contained this toolchain under the package name gcc-arm-none-eabi

See https://launchpad.net/gcc-arm-embedded/+announcement/13824 for details on how to switch the newer PPA and package.

gcc-arm-none-eabi Debian toolchain

Current Debian (jessie) and Ubuntu (14.04 trusty and later) releases have the gcc-arm-none-eabi package in the official repositories (universe), and can be installed with:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gcc-arm-none-eabi gdb-arm-none-eabi

ARM gcc-arm-embedded tarball

Another way is to download and unpack the tarball and add it to your PATH:

  • Download gcc-arm-none-eabi-*-*-linux.tar.bz2 from External Downloads section of ARM gcc-arm-embedded project
  • Unpack it to a directory of your choice
  • Add the bin folder in to your PATH

e.g.:

cd ~
wget https://launchpad.net/gcc-arm-embedded/4.7/4.7-2013-q2-update/+download/gcc-arm-none-eabi-4_7-2013q2-20130614-linux.tar.bz2
sudo tar -vjxf gcc-arm-none-eabi-4_7-2013q2-20130614-linux.tar.bz2 -C /opt
rm -r gcc-arm-none-eabi-4_7-2013q2-20130614-linux.tar.bz2
exportline="PATH=$PATH:/opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi-4_7-2013q2/bin"
if grep -Fxq "$exportline" ~/.profile; then echo nothing to do ; else echo $exportline >> ~/.profile; fi
source ~/.profile

The file .profile will be sourced in every bash after logging out and in again. Until then,

source ~/.profile

can be used for every bash individually.

If you can not access your toolchain with PATH working, look a the Installation/Linux#Troubleshooting.

Old toolchain for Paparazzi v4.x and earlier

For Paparazzi v4.x and earlier you need to install the paparazzi-arm-multilib package. It has support for both ARM7 (i.e. Tiny,TWOG,YAPA autopilot boards) as well as STM32F1 (i.e. LISA boards).
This toolchain does not properly support STM32F4 based autopilots!!

You can install it explicitly with:

sudo apt-get install paparazzi-arm-multilib

Optional Packages

The packages lpc21isp and openocd are normally automatically installed as they are recommended packages of paparazzi-dev, if not you can manually install them via:

sudo apt-get install lpc21isp openocd

lpc21isp is needed to serially flash the LPC2148 based autopilots (e.g. bootloader for tiny, twog, umarim), openocd is for flashing via JTAG (e.g. for Lisa boards) and debugging.

Installing and running Paparazzi

Please see Getting the Source Code on the general Installation page for details on downloading the Paparazzi source code, compiling and running it.

Udev rules

Add the appropriate Udev rule (available in fhe file 50-paparazzi.rules) to the USB handler. Simply copy as root conf/system/udev/rules/50-paparazzi.rules to /etc/udev/rules.d/, e.g in a terminal:

cd <your paparazzi directory>
sudo cp conf/system/udev/rules/50-paparazzi.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules

See the Udev page for more details.

Troubleshooting

No access rights for USB devices

Some Linux distributions, don't allow standard (non admin) users to directly access the USB bus by default. On recent Ubuntu/Debian versions the first/main user is already a member of the plugdev group which should be sufficient for most cases.
If you have problems, make yourself a member of the plugdev and dialout groups:

sudo adduser <your login> plugdev
sudo adduser <your login> dialout

Logout and login again.

arm-none-eabi-gcc: Command not found

Appeared on Debian Wheezy 7 (gcc-arm-none-eabi-4_8-2013q4 installed via tarball)
If this error occurs, maybe the ia32-libs are missing.

Enable multiarch and install ia32-libs:

dpkg --add-architecture i386
apt-get update
apt-get install ia32-libs

arm-linux-gnueabi-gcc cross-compiler not found

Ubuntu

apt-get install gcc-arm-linux-gnueabi

Debian

Starting with jessie, there were some changes to the way cross-compilers are set up. To make it work you will have to add armel architecture and pick up some crossbuild tools.

First edit your /etc/apt/sources.list and add the following line, to enable the emdebian repo:

deb http://emdebian.org/tools/debian/ jessie main

Run the following command in your terminal to add the keys for it

curl http://emdebian.org/tools/debian/emdebian-toolchain-archive.key | sudo apt-key add -

Then you could add armel architecture and fetch the missing cross-compiler packages

dpkg --add-architecture armel
apt-get update
apt-get install crossbuild-essential-armel

You could find out more about cross-toolchains in jessie on debian wiki page.

Note that some of your repos might not mirror embedded architectures, which would give you an error when you try to update the sources. In that case you will have to specify which architecture you do want from them by editing the corresponding entry in your sources.list file, in a way described here. Like in this example with the crunchbang repo you could specify it by adding [arch=amd64,i386] to the line, so you only enable amd64 and i386 architectures:

deb [arch=amd64,i386] http://packages.crunchbang.org/waldorf waldorf main

arm-none-eabi-gdb: error with libncurses.so.5

Appeared on Xubuntu 14.04 LTS (gcc-arm-none-eabi-4_8-2013q4 installed via tarball)
Terminal output: arm-none-eabi-gdb: error while loading shared libraries: libncurses.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

If this error occurs, maybe lib32ncurses5 is missing.
Found on launchpad q&a

FTDI serial adapter not working on old Ubuntu version

On older Linux distributions (not needed for lucid and later), the Braille TTY driver interferes with FTDI USB Serial adapters. If somehow your FTDI serial adapter does not work, remove the package via:

sudo apt-get remove brltty

Code not starting on autopilot after changing gcc

If you changed the toolchain (e.g. installed a new one for having FPU-Support for the F4), you need to run

make clean && make

in sw/ext in order to rebuild the libs. Otherwise the embedded code can behave strange (most likely not start)