A template catkin-tools workspace for ROS1-NOETIC, featuring built-in package management.
ROS projects are incredibly non-portable by nature. A Catkin workspace consists of a collection of loosely stitched-together packages: downloaded code, system dependencies, configuration files, scripts, and custom modules. Attempting to migrate your codebase to a different system, or sharing it with others, can be a near-impossible feat due to slight variations between the different systems.
This project attempts to create a managed Catkin workspace in which external dependencies and system configuration are better defined.
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Install ROS using the ros_noetic_scripts package, or create your own ~/.rosconfig file. See here: https://github.com/daniel-utilities/ros-noetic-scripts
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Create a new repo based on this template, and clone it to your machine:
git clone --recursive URL -
Edit the file: config/depends.conf . Add here any external dependencies which are required by your ROS project. Supports 3 kinds of dependencies:
- APT_PACKAGES: packages to be installed through apt-get. Always prefer to install ROS packages this way if possible. Typically ROS packages in APT are listed as ros-noetic-PKG.
- ROS_PACKAGES: ROS sources to be downloaded to the project's src/ directory. Missing dependencies will be downloaded recursively. Any packages already installed to the global ROS installation will be skipped. See available packages at https://index.ros.org/packages/ .
- GIT_REPOSITORIES: Git repos added here will be cloned to the project's src/ directory. Frequently, Catkin packages are only available as git repos and are not found in APT or the ROS database.
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Initialize the workspace: scripts/init-workspace.sh . This will initialize Catkin-Build, create the src/ directory, and download the packages specified by depends.conf.
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Build the workspace: scripts/build-workspace.sh .
If at any time additional external dependencies are needed, simply update config/depends.conf and run scripts/install-depends.sh.