Debian Trixie: mlat install fails

Technical Support
1

Hi!
After updating my raspberry to trixie I noticed feeding adsbx did not work anymore. Rerunning axfeed.sh gives the following error:

Installing mlat-client to virtual environment
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Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/usr/local/share/adsbexchange/mlat-client-git/setup.py”, line 25, in
from setuptools import setup, Extension
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named ‘setuptools’

Feeding adsb data works, but mlat doesn’t.
Does the adsbx install-script need to be updated to work with Trixie? If not, what else can I try?
Thank you.

2

Yes, actually it affects anything that uses python 3.12 or later. As a hackaround, you could (probably manually) apply this change to script /usr/local/share/adsbexchange/git/update.sh and then run that script. You may also need to (first) apt install pkg-config if it’s not already installed.

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Hi! Thanks for the hint, it worked :slight_smile:

Would be great is adsbx could update the install script though.

1 Like
4

Great! I’ve dropped in a reminder that this needs attention, especially since Trixie is out. Thanks!

1 Like
5

That bug is still present in Ubuntu 24.04 with python 3.12:

root@lamiska-server:/tmp# curl -L -o /tmp/axupdate.sh https://www.adsbexchange.com/feed-update.sh
root@lamiska-server:/tmp# sudo bash /tmp/axupdate.sh

...

Installing mlat-client to virtual environment

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Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/share/adsbexchange/mlat-client-git/setup.py", line 25, in <module>
    from setuptools import setup, Extension
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'setuptools'
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readsb version: 3.14.1631 adsbexchange git: eea98b1 (committed: Mon Jun 17 09:18:43 2024 -0700)

Feed client already installed, git hash:
eea98b13b453779b9fe75b6783f4e6b129f2dff0

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When trying to start adsbexchange-mlat.service :

2025-09-24T18:50:55.129800+01:00 lamiska-server adsbexchange-mlat[1298567]: /usr/local/share/adsbexchange/adsbexchange-mlat.sh: line 26: /usr/local/share/adsbexchange/venv/bin/mlat-client: No such file or directory
2025-09-24T18:50:55.131966+01:00 lamiska-server systemd[1]: adsbexchange-mlat.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=127/n/a
2025-09-24T18:50:55.132243+01:00 lamiska-server systemd[1]: adsbexchange-mlat.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

root@lamiska-server:/tmp# stat /usr/local/share/adsbexchange/venv/bin/mlat-clientstat: cannot statx ‘/usr/local/share/adsbexchange/venv/bin/mlat-client’: No such file or directory
6

I have a fresh install of Raspberry Pi OS Trixie Lite on a Pi 4 that that can see aircraft using tar1090 after further installs following the associated instructions at Automatic installation for readsb · wiedehopf/adsb-scripts Wiki · GitHub

My next step was to obtain mlat and feed adsbexchange using axfeed.sh, but it failed in the same manner as it did for Greysky as referenced in his opening post above. Unfortunately, the bash.sh script referenced by Dseven’s post as a possible solution for the problem, also failed. It appears that the main reason is because the script is meant for installations feeding adsb.lol.

I am playing a long shot here, and I don’t expect miracles, but is there a similar update script or other solution available for only feeding adsbexhange? Thanks.

7

Not sure what script you’re referring to (about being meant for adsb.lol), but anyway, try this as a workaround (after the failure occurs):

#!/bin/bash

set -euo pipefail

apt update
apt install pkg-config curl patch

cd /usr/local/share/adsbexchange/git

git checkout update.sh
curl https://github.com/wiedehopf/feed/commit/846627840c528d5feccae1c2408b573babe1c258.patch | patch -p1

bash /usr/local/share/adsbexchange/git/update.sh
8

I thank you very much for taking the time to come up with a script that would solve the problem, and hopefully it will help anyone in the future with the same problem. In my case however, since I did not have the skills to solve this on my own, I did a reinstall using bookworm rather than remain off line. My ADSB Pi has been back in service for almost two weeks now. Still, it would be nice to upgrade, and if I have some free time after the first of the year,I will take it off line and give your script a try, Thanks again,