Possible to build with catkin plugin with git source?

snapcraft
1

I’m wondering if there’s any way to build ROS packages directly from git. Something like:

parts:
  ros-part:
    plugin: catkin
    source: https://github.com/ThomasTimm/ur_modern_driver.git
    catkin-packages:
    - ur_modern_driver
    rosdistro: kinetic
    include-roscore: true

The problem with this is that the catkin plugin requires this package to be in parts/ros-part/src/src/ur_modern_driver, but snapcraft checks out the git repository directly into parts/ros-part/src/. Is there a way to instruct it to check out into subdirectories? (I couldn’t find one) Any other ideas?

Being able to do this in an underlay would be a nice way to include ROS dependencies that haven’t been packaged into debs (like the example above).

2

Unfortunately, Catkin, and by extension the Catkin plugin in snapcraft, does not work this way. It requires the use of workspaces, and then operates on the workspace. Since the ur_modern_driver repo is a package and not a workspace, the Catkin plugin doesn’t know how to build it. However, you can easily create a workspace that includes it by using rosinstall files. For example, in the root of your project (alongside the snap/ dir) create a file called my-stuff.rosinstall with the following contents:

- git:
    local-name: ur_modern_driver
    uri: https://github.com/ThomasTimm/ur_modern_driver.git

Then make your YAML snippet look like this:

parts:
  ros-part:
    plugin: catkin
    rosdistro: kinetic
    rosinstall-files: [my-stuff.rosinstall]
    catkin-packages:
      - ur_modern_driver

The Catkin plugin will then merge this rosinstall file in with its workspace, giving Catkin something it can walk and use to build. Note that master of ur_modern_driver doesn’t seem to build, but you get the idea.

1 Like
3

Ah yes, that’s a nice solution. Thanks!

4

Is this still the way to go?

I’m having problems pulling my repository defined in the rosinstall file. In an example where I have the catkin_simple package as dependency, this gives me:

Installing wstool...
Initializing workspace (if necessary)...
Merging /root/parts/workspace/src/snap/local/snap.rosinstall
Updating workspace...
The authenticity of host 'github.com (140.82.118.3)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is SHA256:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Error updating workspace: Cloning into '/root/parts/workspace/src/src/catkin_simple'...
warning: templates not found /usr/share/git-core/templates
Warning: Permanently added 'github.com,140.82.118.3' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
git@github.com: Permission denied (publickey).
fatal: Could not read from remote repository.

Please make sure you have the correct access rights
and the repository exists.
ERROR in config: Error processing 'catkin_simple' : [catkin_simple] Checkout of git@github.com:catkin/catkin_simple.git version None into /root/parts/workspace/src/src/catkin_simple failed.

I access the dependencies by SSH:

- git:
    local-name: catkin_simple
    uri: git@github.com:catkin/catkin_simple.git

Normal git clone commands work just fine on my machine. Do I need to give my SSH key to the VM somehow?