fix: detect bias-t support before passing -T to rtl_sdr/rtl_fm

Stock rtl-sdr packages don't support the -T bias-tee flag (only
RTL-SDR Blog builds do). Passing -T to stock rtl_sdr causes an
immediate exit, breaking meteor scatter and waterfall modes.

Now probes the tool's --help output before adding -T, with a regex
that avoids false-matching "DVB-T" in the description text.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Smittix
2026-03-02 21:52:54 +00:00
parent 6a334c61df
commit de3f972aa2

View File

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ with existing RTL-SDR installations. No SoapySDR dependency required.
from __future__ import annotations
import logging
import re
import subprocess
from typing import Optional
@@ -23,6 +24,28 @@ def _rtl_fm_demod_mode(modulation: str) -> str:
return 'wbfm' if mod == 'wfm' else mod
def _rtl_tool_supports_bias_t(tool_path: str) -> bool:
"""Check if an rtl_* tool (rtl_fm, rtl_sdr) supports the -T bias-tee flag.
The -T flag is only available in RTL-SDR Blog builds, not in stock
rtl-sdr packages shipped by most distros.
"""
try:
result = subprocess.run(
[tool_path, '--help'],
capture_output=True,
text=True,
timeout=5
)
help_text = result.stdout + result.stderr
# Match "-T" as a CLI flag (e.g. "[-T]" or "-T enable bias"),
# not as part of "DVB-T" or similar text.
return bool(re.search(r'(?<!\w)-T\b', help_text))
except Exception as e:
logger.warning(f"Could not detect bias-t support for {tool_path}: {e}")
return False
def _get_dump1090_bias_t_flag(dump1090_path: str) -> Optional[str]:
"""Detect the correct bias-t flag for the installed dump1090 variant.
@@ -126,7 +149,10 @@ class RTLSDRCommandBuilder(CommandBuilder):
cmd.extend(['-E', 'direct2'])
if bias_t:
cmd.extend(['-T'])
if _rtl_tool_supports_bias_t(rtl_fm_path):
cmd.append('-T')
else:
logger.warning("Bias-t requested but rtl_fm does not support -T (RTL-SDR Blog drivers required).")
# Output to stdout for piping
cmd.append('-')
@@ -283,7 +309,10 @@ class RTLSDRCommandBuilder(CommandBuilder):
cmd.extend(['-p', str(ppm)])
if bias_t:
cmd.append('-T')
if _rtl_tool_supports_bias_t(rtl_sdr_path):
cmd.append('-T')
else:
logger.warning("Bias-t requested but rtl_sdr does not support -T (RTL-SDR Blog drivers required).")
# Output to stdout
cmd.append('-')