Programs and updates

Programs: pick what you want

hamstack knows more than the Winlink stack, and each program is installed, version-checked and updated the same way.

hamstack install                    # in a terminal: the whole list, by category, to choose from by number or name
hamstack install --list             # the same as a table: what each is, if it is installed, how it would be installed, what it needs
hamstack install fldigi flmsg       # by name
hamstack install wsjtx-improved --from-source   # build the newest release instead of the distribution's package
hamstack versions                   # installed against the newest upstream release, for all of them
hamstack update                     # update what hamstack built into ~/.local; says how for the rest

Dependencies and suggestions are tracked. A program that cannot work without another (Mercury needs hamlib’s rigctld) pulls it in and says why; programs that merely go well together (fldigi with flrig, flmsg and flamp; Xastir with Direwolf and gpsd) are suggested, never added without asking. Programs that provide the same thing (the two WSJT-X variants) refuse to install together.

Where each comes from. Debian and Fedora package all of them, but a distribution lags (Debian 13 ships Direwolf 1.7, WSJT-X Improved 2.8.0 against 3.2.1 upstream), so every program can also be built from its upstream source into ~/.local (--from-source; the guided setup offers it when the package is old). Arch has none of the fl suite, WSJT-X, JS8Call or Xastir in its repositories (they are in the AUR), so on Arch those are always built from source: hamstack never runs AUR helpers or builds AUR packages. A source build shows what it will install and where it downloads from first. Programs that cannot print their version without a display (the Qt applications) have it read from the package database, or from a record hamstack keeps for its own builds.

Every source recipe was built to completion on Debian 13, Fedora 45 and Arch (the fl suite, Xastir, JS8Call, ardopcf, WSJT-X Improved); the official WSJT-X is built on Debian and Fedora only (Arch no longer ships a Qt 5 module it needs: use WSJT-X Improved there). The built programs were checked to install and report a version, not run: the Qt programs need a display, and nothing was used on the air.

Keeping software current

hamstack versions compares every program’s installed version with the newest upstream release (GitHub, or SourceForge for the fl suite and WSJT-X, whose GitHub mirrors lag), and hamstack update brings up to date what hamstack itself put in ~/.local. How each is updated depends on where it came from:

A distribution package may lag upstream; hamstack reports both and says which one an update would actually give you.