I cannot get flirc installed on my linux machine

[oarion7]

On 9/1/2023 at 1:49 PM, koprze said:

I have simmilar problem using curl instaling version on Ubuntu 22.04 64bit. Script successful executed, but nothing was installed. (I think the repo is broken or unavailable)

Then I tryed manual install from sources with success :

1. https://flirc.com/ubuntu-software-installation-guide - download Latest Archive 64bit

2. Unzip and copy flirc_util and Flirc files to /usr/local/bin/

3 In directory /etc/udev/rules.d create new file and name it 99-flirc.rules. Paste bellow content:

# Flirc Devices

# Bootloader
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", ATTR{idVendor}=="20a0", ATTR{idProduct}=="0000", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", ATTR{idVendor}=="20a0", ATTR{idProduct}=="0002", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="hidraw", ATTRS{idVendor}=="20a0", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0005", MODE="0666"

# Flirc Application
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", ATTR{idVendor}=="20a0", ATTR{idProduct}=="0001", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", ATTR{idVendor}=="20a0", ATTR{idProduct}=="0004", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="hidraw", ATTRS{idVendor}=="20a0", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0006", MODE="0666"

4. Restart computer

5.When I try to start  Flirc I got libreadline.so.7 missing dependencies error. In Ubuntu 22.04 is now version libreadline.so.8 installed so I crate symlink :

sudo ln -s /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libreadline.so.8 /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libreadline.so.7

6. Install other dependencies. (not all will  install, but don't afraid  and continue)

sudo apt install libhidapi-hidraw0

sudo apt install libqt5core5a

sudo apt install libqt5network5
sudo apt install libqt5xml5  
sudo apt install libqt5xmlpatterns5  
sudo apt install libhid 
sudo apt install qt5-qtbase 
sudo apt install qt5-qtsvg 
sudo apt install hidapi

7. Start configuration program using sudo command (without sudo program starting, but throw errors) :

sudo Flirc

 

 

 

 

Came here just to say this worked for me on Mint 21.1/Ubuntu 22.04 Today.

This should be the official Linux how-to. More or less did exactly the same thing and grabbed the udev script from here. The official repo is broken and the official install script doesn't report errors. Rebooted twice before discovering it never installed any packages! Also the udev files are not bundled into the tarball so this was the only place to find them. Again this is what worked for me. I think a few of the dependency names are wrong. Reminder to anyone looking for apt packages, make use of "apt search <keyword>" and break the keyword into a component part, sometimes Ubuntu names things weird. Thanks for sharing.

Was at first quite disappointed from the messy experience at first but it got better. :)

[Tes]

On 9/1/2023 at 1:49 PM, koprze said:

I have simmilar problem using curl instaling version on Ubuntu 22.04 64bit. Script successful executed, but nothing was installed. (I think the repo is broken or unavailable)

Then I tryed manual install from sources with success :

1. https://flirc.com/ubuntu-software-installation-guide - download Latest Archive 64bit

2. Unzip and copy flirc_util and Flirc files to /usr/local/bin/

3 In directory /etc/udev/rules.d create new file and name it 99-flirc.rules. Paste bellow content:

# Flirc Devices

# Bootloader
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", ATTR{idVendor}=="20a0", ATTR{idProduct}=="0000", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", ATTR{idVendor}=="20a0", ATTR{idProduct}=="0002", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="hidraw", ATTRS{idVendor}=="20a0", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0005", MODE="0666"

# Flirc Application
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", ATTR{idVendor}=="20a0", ATTR{idProduct}=="0001", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", ATTR{idVendor}=="20a0", ATTR{idProduct}=="0004", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="hidraw", ATTRS{idVendor}=="20a0", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0006", MODE="0666"

4. Restart computer

5.When I try to start  Flirc I got libreadline.so.7 missing dependencies error. In Ubuntu 22.04 is now version libreadline.so.8 installed so I crate symlink :

sudo ln -s /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libreadline.so.8 /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libreadline.so.7

6. Install other dependencies. (not all will  install, but don't afraid  and continue)

sudo apt install libhidapi-hidraw0

sudo apt install libqt5core5a

sudo apt install libqt5network5
sudo apt install libqt5xml5  
sudo apt install libqt5xmlpatterns5  
sudo apt install libhid 
sudo apt install qt5-qtbase 
sudo apt install qt5-qtsvg 
sudo apt install hidapi

7. Start configuration program using sudo command (without sudo program starting, but throw errors) :

sudo Flirc

 

 

 

 

Thank you! I will try this this week. My apologies. I had given up on this thing so I haven't been back to the thread in a little while. I'll try it hopefully tonight after work. Thank you so much for your reply! ☺

[oarion7]

Here's the dependencies list reformatted  to existing package names on my Linux Mint 21.1 system (Ubuntu 22.04 based) to the best of my ability, possible there is some redundancy and only 2 or 3 of them are named differently

libhidapi-dev libhidapi-hidraw0 libqt5core5a libqt5network5 libqt5xml5 libqt5xmlpatterns5 libqt5svg5 libqt5svg5-dev qtbase5-dev

Edit: forgot qtbase5-dev

 

Edited September 15, 2023 by oarion7

[Tes]

On 9/1/2023 at 1:49 PM, koprze said:

I have simmilar problem using curl instaling version on Ubuntu 22.04 64bit. Script successful executed, but nothing was installed. (I think the repo is broken or unavailable)

Then I tryed manual install from sources with success :

1. https://flirc.com/ubuntu-software-installation-guide - download Latest Archive 64bit

2. Unzip and copy flirc_util and Flirc files to /usr/local/bin/

3 In directory /etc/udev/rules.d create new file and name it 99-flirc.rules. Paste bellow content:

# Flirc Devices

# Bootloader
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", ATTR{idVendor}=="20a0", ATTR{idProduct}=="0000", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", ATTR{idVendor}=="20a0", ATTR{idProduct}=="0002", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="hidraw", ATTRS{idVendor}=="20a0", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0005", MODE="0666"

# Flirc Application
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", ATTR{idVendor}=="20a0", ATTR{idProduct}=="0001", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", ATTR{idVendor}=="20a0", ATTR{idProduct}=="0004", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="hidraw", ATTRS{idVendor}=="20a0", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0006", MODE="0666"

4. Restart computer

5.When I try to start  Flirc I got libreadline.so.7 missing dependencies error. In Ubuntu 22.04 is now version libreadline.so.8 installed so I crate symlink :

sudo ln -s /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libreadline.so.8 /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libreadline.so.7

6. Install other dependencies. (not all will  install, but don't afraid  and continue)

sudo apt install libhidapi-hidraw0

sudo apt install libqt5core5a

sudo apt install libqt5network5
sudo apt install libqt5xml5  
sudo apt install libqt5xmlpatterns5  
sudo apt install libhid 
sudo apt install qt5-qtbase 
sudo apt install qt5-qtsvg 
sudo apt install hidapi

7. Start configuration program using sudo command (without sudo program starting, but throw errors) :

sudo Flirc

 

 

 

 

Thank you Thank you Thank you! I have been unable to use this software for 2 years now! Until you posted this. I had done much of it several times over already, but there is something different about your steps because this time it worked perfect! Thank you again!

[Melchromate]

I can confirm that following Koprze's instructions I was able to install the software on Lionux Mint v21.3 x86_64  Thank you!  I was able to skip step 5 of the instructions (it seems to function fine with libreadline8 on my machine).

 

[GeoffT]

I too have been struggling to get the Flirc software installed on Linux Mint

Eventually I found this thread and followed Koprze's instructions. It does now work but it throws these errors when it starts:

gui/Flirc/src/main.cpp log_setup(131): flirc.ini not in the default location[E] lib/libflirc/flirc_driver.c fl_major_version(508): something bad happened
[E] lib/libflirc/flirc_driver.c fl_minor_version(498): something bad happened
[E] lib/libflirc/flirc_driver.c fl_patch_version(558): something bad happened

These last 2 lines then repeat but the GUI pops up and it all appears to work. I'd like to fix the problem though.

Flirc REALLY need to fix this - you shouldn't make it this hard for people to install the software on Linux

[ceric]

Hey guys,

Please follow this link in order to make it works.

It works with my debian 12.

[JCAudio]

Worked out of the box on Debian 12 for me! I did update to a reasonably-modern kernel, for what it's worth (6.10).

[jason]

A lot of this stuff is out of date and solved. I am compiling in readline and all these libraries statically into the binary. I also put together an app image file which is a self contained blob with all the libraries. It's in the zip file in the linux download sections of the website.

[Tes]

9 hours ago, jason said:

A lot of this stuff is out of date and solved. I am compiling in readline and all these libraries statically into the binary. I also put together an app image file which is a self contained blob with all the libraries. It's in the zip file in the linux download sections of the website.

That's awesome Jason! Thank you so much for that!

Edited April 12, 2025 by Tes

[InfraGreen]

Just chiming in to confirm that today I followed Koprze's instructions and was able to launch the Flirc configuration app to (mostly) normal functionality. A while back I had installed it on Ubuntu 20.04, but after upgrading to 24.04, it stopped launching the app, though the device retained the original config so I ignored it for a few months. But after following back on it and failing to reinstall with the main website's instructions, I finally got the config app to launch again with the instructions from this thread. Now the only issue I have is that it won't let me load my saved config files, but hey… one day at a time.

[jason]

27 minutes ago, InfraGreen said:

Just chiming in to confirm that today I followed Koprze's instructions and was able to launch the Flirc configuration app to (mostly) normal functionality. A while back I had installed it on Ubuntu 20.04, but after upgrading to 24.04, it stopped launching the app, though the device retained the original config so I ignored it for a few months. But after following back on it and failing to reinstall with the main website's instructions, I finally got the config app to launch again with the instructions from this thread. Now the only issue I have is that it won't let me load my saved config files, but hey… one day at a time.

Does it give you an error when you try and load the configuration?

Can you use the commandline utility, flirc_util loadconfig 'file name'

 

[Androo]

Hello, new user here. Just got my first flircs and am off to a pretty disappointing start. I found this thread after trying to follow the outdated and obviously incorrect install instructions:

https://docs.flirc.io/flirc-usb/Installation/Linux Installation Guide

These instructions seriously need to be updated to prevent wasting people's time. If the appimage is the only working form for Linux, then just say so and remove all doubts. 

That appimage seems to run but I have yet to try setting things up and the "user manual" isn't really instructive. I really didn't expect this to be such a time-sink. I shouldn't have to dig through forums just to get started. I'm guessing that the GUI will let me start pairing keys to functions, but I ran out of time today.

Are there instructions for setup with the GUI? If so, please share a link.

Kind regards,

Androo

[Tes]

1 hour ago, Androo said:

Hello, new user here. Just got my first flircs and am off to a pretty disappointing start. I found this thread after trying to follow the outdated and obviously incorrect install instructions:

https://docs.flirc.io/flirc-usb/Installation/Linux Installation Guide

These instructions seriously need to be updated to prevent wasting people's time. If the appimage is the only working form for Linux, then just say so and remove all doubts. 

That appimage seems to run but I have yet to try setting things up and the "user manual" isn't really instructive. I really didn't expect this to be such a time-sink. I shouldn't have to dig through forums just to get started. I'm guessing that the GUI will let me start pairing keys to functions, but I ran out of time today.

Are there instructions for setup with the GUI? If so, please share a link.

Kind regards,

Androo

Follow Koprze's  post to get it running for now . It seems to have worked for all who've tried it so far. 

 

Tes

Edited December 20, 2025 by Tes

[Androo]

7 hours ago, Tes said:

Follow Koprze's  post to get it running for now . It seems to have worked for all who've tried it so far. 

 

Tes

Thanks @Tes, 

Some notes: On Linux Mint 22.2 Zara (base: Ubuntu 24.04 noble)

step 5, creating a symlink to libreadline.so.8 wasn't needed 
step 6. Install other dependencies. (not all will  install, but don't afraid  and continue)
the following do not install: libhid, qt5-qtbase, qt5-qtsvg, and hidapi

ran Flirc without sudo and was prompted to update firmware, which was essential to getting the device to connect. It wouldn't connect at all before. no errors during key-mapping the remote. Now I'm trying to figure out how to get it to work in desktop applications.

I was trying to learn from the "knowledge base" https://flirc.zendesk.com/ but that seems to be a dead-end for me. The support link from the GUI takes me to a user login in that same domain but there's nowhere to sign-up. 

 

 

[Tes]

4 minutes ago, Androo said:

Thanks @Tes, 

Some notes: On Linux Mint 22.2 Zara (base: Ubuntu 24.04 noble)

step 5, creating a symlink to libreadline.so.8 wasn't needed 
step 6. Install other dependencies. (not all will  install, but don't afraid  and continue)
the following do not install: libhid, qt5-qtbase, qt5-qtsvg, and hidapi

ran Flirc without sudo and was prompted to update firmware, which was essential to getting the device to connect. It wouldn't connect at all before. no errors during key-mapping the remote. Now I'm trying to figure out how to get it to work in desktop applications.

I was trying to learn from the "knowledge base" https://flirc.zendesk.com/ but that seems to be a dead-end for me. The support link from the GUI takes me to a user login in that same domain but there's nowhere to sign-up. 

 

 

Run sudo Flirc. 

That should open the Gui and then you configure it all through there. 

 As long asyou  can get the interface to open, you should be good to go. But I'm not the expert here.  I just followed someone else's steps and it worked for me.

[jason]

I thought I fixed all this. I will recreate it and try and get an update out. 

I see: On Linux Mint 22.2 Zara (base: Ubuntu 24.04 noble). @Tes What were you running?

If you run the appimage with sudo, does it not run fine?

[Androo]

19 hours ago, jason said:

I thought I fixed all this. I will recreate it and try and get an update out. 

I see: On Linux Mint 22.2 Zara (base: Ubuntu 24.04 noble). @Tes What were you running?

If you run the appimage with sudo, does it not run fine?

Hello @jason, I was not able to get the device working just by running the appimage, though that did seem to run fine. It just said "Disconnected" with no indication of how to remedy. Following the recommendation to follow Koprze's instructions, I got it working but didn't try to figure out what was needed or not, I just went through the steps & noted what was different for my situation. I would kindly recommend you update the instructions for Linux users to reflect the intended installation as I expect others will find this somewhat frustrating, too. 

Kind regards,

Andrew

[Tes]

On 12/20/2025 at 6:05 PM, jason said:

I thought I fixed all this. I will recreate it and try and get an update out. 

I see: On Linux Mint 22.2 Zara (base: Ubuntu 24.04 noble). @Tes What were you running?

If you run the appimage with sudo, does it not run fine?

Hey @jason  I'm running Zorin OS 17, which is Ubuntu/Debian-based.

I eventually got mine working a couple years ago following Koprze's steps.  Since it worked, I never touched it again, except to configure my remote. I didn't even want to breathe on it once it finally started working lol 

I've never tried your app image because you fixed that or made it after we got things figured out in this thread, so I had no reason to try it. 

....  Okay, so I just went on my computer and ran the Debian 64/Redhat instructions.

"curl apt.flirc.tv/install.sh | sudo bash"

It installed fine and opened with the CLI command with no errors.

I also downloaded the 

latest .tar archive and ran the appimage from right inside the archive by double clicking on it, and it just opened the Flirk Utility no questions asked.

Now, to be fair, I have already installed it the hard way so I could have dependencies that perhaps some of the people with difficulties don't have. Not sure.  But both of your latest methods worked for me first try as of right now.

 

For anyone who can't find the download page, this should be a direct link...

https://flirc.tv/pages/flirc-usb-linux-downloads

The instructions here as well as the downloadable archive worked for me.

Thanks Jason. I know you're a one man show over there, so I appreciate all you've done to make this thing what it is. 

Tes

Edited January 2 by Tes

[Androo]

Hello again,

Respectfully, the take-away here IMHO as a Flirc newbie is: there are two conflicting sets of installation instructions provided by Flirc.

1. https://docs.flirc.io/flirc-usb/Installation/Linux Installation Guide/
2. https://flirc.tv/pages/flirc-usb-linux-downloads

The first & most obvious starting point should be (ideally) updated, or removed.  Unsurprisingly, I went to the first because it's the "Linux installation guide"! but it's outdated. I didn't catch there was a second set of instructions at the bottom of the download page, because I just looked for the download link thinking I already had the instructions. That failing, I jumped into the forum and here we are. If the instructions were in the obvious place (1), I would have been set up in minutes and you both could have been spared meeting me ;)

Thanks for your help. Now that I have it set up, I'm very pleased with it.

Happy holidays & best wishes for the new year.

Andrew

 

Edited December 23, 2025 by Androo