How can I select Soapy as the sampling device?

[obones]

Hello,

I'm trying to use SoapySDR to interface to a RedPitaya board and so have read this document: https://github.com/f4exb/sdrangel/blob/master/plugins/samplesource/soapysdrinput/readme.md

As I understand things right now, I should click on the "Add Rx Device" button and select SoapySDR from the list that appears. I am surely doing something wrong as I'm not seeing it here:

I also went to the Device user arguments window where I should be able to enter the IP address for the RedPitaya, but there too there are no signs of SoapySDR contrary to what's shown in the documentation screenshot: https://github.com/f4exb/sdrangel/blob/master/doc/img/MainWindow_user_args.png

I checked and inputsoapysdr.dll is present in the plugins folder

What have I missed? Is there a place where I should be giving the path to the PothosSDR installation?

[srcejon]

Did you pass the --soapy argument when starting SDRangel?

[obones]

Ah... did not know about that one, I'm under Windows so I'm just clicking on the icon to start it
But even when using a shell to start with --soapy, it does not change the result, no SoapySDR shown.
Does it need anything else? Maybe for PothosSDR to be in the PATH environment variable?

[obones]

Answering myself here: adding C:\Program Files\PothosSDR\bin at the end of the PATH environment variable does not seem to help

[N1FKO]

Adding --soapy does not work for me using the releases (macOS/arm64). I've been building the binaries myself.

Update: Found the root cause and a fix for my case.

The official macOS/arm64 release bundles its own SoapySDR core library (Contents/Frameworks/libSoapySDR.0.8-3.dylib, ABI 0.8-3), separate from any SoapySDR install on the system (MacPorts/Homebrew/source build — mine was ABI 0.8). Even with --soapy, a third-party driver module built against the system SoapySDR links to a different dylib than the one SDRangel itself uses. macOS then loads two separate in-process copies of the SoapySDR core, each with its own private device registry — the driver registers into the system copy's registry, but SDRangel only queries its own bundled copy's registry, so enumOriginDevices reports 0 even though the module loads fine and the driver works standalone (verified with SoapySDRUtil --probe).

Fix that worked for my IC-R8600 driver:

1. Check the ABI SDRangel bundles (log shows DeviceSoapySDRScan::scan: ABI Version: v0.8-3 after passing --soapy, or inspect Contents/Frameworks/libSoapySDR*.dylib directly).
2. Build a private SoapySDR core checkout at that exact ABI.
3. Rebuild the driver module against that private core (-DSoapySDR_DIR=<path to its share/cmake/SoapySDR>).
4. install_name_tool -change the module's SoapySDR dependency from the private core's path to SDRangel's own bundled Contents/Frameworks/libSoapySDR.0.8-3.dylib, so it loads SDRangel's already-loaded copy instead of a second one.
5. Launch with SOAPY_SDR_PLUGIN_PATH=<dir containing only the rebuilt module> /path/to/SDRangel --soapy.

After that, SDRangel enumerates the device correctly. @obones — if PothosSDR on Windows bundles its own SoapySDR core distinct from whatever SDRangel's Windows release links against, this could be the same issue, just without an install_name_tool equivalent to fix it.