Scripts included with the Xastir distribution

Xastir comes with a number of helper scripts. These are installed into /usr/local/share/xastir/scripts or /usr/share/xastir/scripts depending on how you installed Xastir.

For now we'll only document the ones we know actually work as provided --- there are many that are old and have fallen into disuse, and may have rotted. We will update this page as we have the opportunity to verify that scripts still work or repair them so that they do.

• get-NWSdata: This script should be run as root

  sudo /usr/local/share/xastir/scripts/get-NWSdata
  

  and will download all of the shapefiles needed for weather alerts to function (in the US).
• get-fcc-rac.pl: This script, which must also be run as root (e.g. through sudo) downloads the FCC and RAC ham licensee databases that enable the "Find Station" dialog to look up information about the licensee.
• object2shp.pl: This perl script will convert the contents of an "objects.log" file from your .xastir/config directory to a shapefile of points for use as a map layer.
• slideshow.pl: A script that will run continuously and rename/copy PNG snapshots from Xastir so that they can be turned into a slide show or animated GIF with GraphicsMagick tools. See the comments at the top of the script for how to use it. It does not create the slideshow file, it only saves the periodic PNG snapshots so that you can do it later.
• wxnowsrv.pl: This perl script will create a simple daemon that periodically reads a "wxnow.txt" file from WeeWx and send updated weather information to connected clients. This server can be used by a Networked WX interface.

There are many others, but if they're not documented here we have not reviewed them as of 3 Jan 2026 for continued relevance or functionality.