Installing MAVLink

This topic explains how to install the MAVLink toolchain, including both XML message definitions and the GUI/command line tools that use them to Generate MAVLink Source Files.

You do not need to install or generate the source files if you are using the C programming language and a standard dialect. Just get the prebuilt libraries and then jump to Using C Libraries.

Prerequisites

The requirements for using the MAVLink tools are:

• Python 3.3+ (recommended) or Python 2.7+
• Python future module
• (Optional) Python TkInter module (required to use the GUI tool).
• PYTHONPATH environment variable must be set to the directory path containing the mavlink repository.

Installation Steps

The main installation steps are:

1. Install Python 3.3+ (or Python 2.7+):

   • Windows: Download from Python for Windows
   • Ubuntu Linux 18.04: Python 3 (and Python 2.7+) are already present. If you are using Python3 you will need to install the pip3 package manager: sudo apt-get install python3-pip

2. Install the future module:

   • Windows: pip3 install future

   • Linux:

     Python 3:

       pip3 install --user future
     

    Python 2:

        pip install --user future

1. (Optionally) Install TkInter

   • Windows: Installed already as part of Python for Windows

   • Linux: Enter the following terminal command:

     Python 3:

       sudo apt-get install python3-tk
     

    Python 2:

        sudo apt-get install python-tk

1. Clone the mavlink repo (or your fork) into a user-writable directory:

    git clone https://github.com/mavlink/mavlink.git --recursive
   

1. Set PYTHONPATH to the directory path containing your mavlink repository.
   • Windows: set PYTHONPATH=C:\your_path_to_mavlink_clone
   • Linux: PYTHONPATH=your_path_to_mavlink_clone

Now you are ready to Generate MAVLink Libraries.