Sig;
697 error | ^
697 error In file included from ../src/./serialport.h:13,
```
---
### Author:  [@jonnyfarmer](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/jonnyfarmer)
#### Post date: [20 September 2023 14:15 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/failure-installing-node-red-contrib-rfxcom/81445/3 "2023-09-20T14:15:28Z")
Hi Marcus
Many thanks for the welcome and the prompt reply. Your response makes absolute sense to me - I just couldn't "decode" the log at all. I'll reach out to the author and see what can be done.
Thanks again 🙂
---
### Author:  [@PdeJ](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/PdeJ)
#### Post date: [20 September 2023 14:39 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/failure-installing-node-red-contrib-rfxcom/81445/4 "2023-09-20T14:39:44Z")
Yesterday I repeatedly couldn't install a Node that I had previously installed a couple of weeks ago. So I did a fresh installation of Node Red on a couple of SD cards today, and discovered that I could only install the node provided I had already done a sudo update and upgrade before attempting to load that particular Node.
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### Author:  [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)
#### Post date: [20 September 2023 15:01 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/failure-installing-node-red-contrib-rfxcom/81445/5 "2023-09-20T15:01:40Z")
This can be a downside to using Dave's great install script. It hides away the actual mechanisms. Great for simplicity and getting doing. Not so great if you have an issue.
Node.js/npm is generally pretty good at sorting things out but there are certainly gottya's.
Serial ports are one of these. They use Node.js's C++ interface and so, if you change Node.js major version, they typically have to be recompiled even if already installed. And C++ dependencies can be a bit more dependent on other OS components/libraries.
@maxwellhadley is the author of the node. I don't think he gets time these days to inhabit the forum so reach out on GitHub. I've been using his node for quite a few years now and it is excellent. Thankfully rarely needs any maintenance.
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### Author:  [@jonnyfarmer](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/jonnyfarmer)
#### Post date: [20 September 2023 15:30 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/failure-installing-node-red-contrib-rfxcom/81445/6 "2023-09-20T15:30:48Z")
Many thanks for the suggestion, but I had updated and upgraded before trying the install (and after just to be sure!
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### Author:  [@jonnyfarmer](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/jonnyfarmer)
#### Post date: [20 September 2023 15:31 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/failure-installing-node-red-contrib-rfxcom/81445/7 "2023-09-20T15:31:56Z")
Many thanks - I'll reach out to @maxwellhadley as you suggest - I have been using the node for many, many years until a hardware failure meant a rebuild of my Node Red machine ☹
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### Author:  [@marcus-j-davies](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/marcus-j-davies)
#### Post date: [20 September 2023 15:40 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/failure-installing-node-red-contrib-rfxcom/81445/8 "2023-09-20T15:40:30Z")
The `serialport` package has been the bane of my life in recent times - more so for those using Alpine Linux ðŸ˜
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### Author:  [@maxwellhadley](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/maxwellhadley)
#### Post date: [20 September 2023 20:25 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/failure-installing-node-red-contrib-rfxcom/81445/9 "2023-09-20T20:25:31Z")
@jonnyfarmer - Sorry you've been having problems. I think it is indeed a Serialport version issue. They do seem to introduce compatibilty-breaking updates with depressing regularity. I'm way behind on package maintenance these days: like @TotallyInformation said I'm very busy and don't have much time for Node-RED (or anything else much, either ☹ )
There is an update currently in progress, but don't hold your breath. I have checked, and I can confirm there are breaking API changes affecting node-rfxcom when going from 9.x.x to 10.x.x, so I have yet **more** work to do!
---
### Author:  [@jonnyfarmer](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/jonnyfarmer)
#### Post date: [20 September 2023 21:41 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/failure-installing-node-red-contrib-rfxcom/81445/10 "2023-09-20T21:41:02Z")
@maxwellhadley many thanks for taking the time to respond. I fully understand how busy life can be 🙂
I'll be very grateful (like many people) if you find time to catch up at some point, but in the mean time keep healthy and happy and I'll see if I can build a setup with an old version of OS & Node Red to tide me over!
---
### Author:  [@jonnyfarmer](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/jonnyfarmer)
#### Post date: [21 September 2023 22:16 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/failure-installing-node-red-contrib-rfxcom/81445/11 "2023-09-21T22:16:20Z")
Further to my comments about trying older versions and in case it helps anyone else in the short term, here is what I did to get a Raspberry Pi 3A+ running Node Red and communicating with my RFXtrx433E (running the RFXtrx433E Ext v1028 firmware):
Install DietPi Bullseye on Pi (the DietPi\_RPi-ARMv8-Bullseye image, not Bookworm)
Install node red (using dietpi-software - software id 122)
The the following commands in an SSH session:
npm uninstall serialport
apt-get install build-essential
npm install serialport@8.0.8
Then I used the Node Red pallette manager to install node-red-contrib-rfxcom
I don't intend to use this Pi for anything else on Node Red - I'll send the messages to my main Node Red install via MQTT. I'm sure something less than a Pi 3A+ could do the job, but it's what I had to hand that I could sacrifice for the role.
Again, thanks to all who responded above and if anyone has any questions I'll try and help but please keep in mind I'm a real Linux newbie 🙂
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [20 November 2023 22:16 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/failure-installing-node-red-contrib-rfxcom/81445/12 "2023-11-20T22:16:47Z")
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