How to handle cloned packages that have no package.xml or CMake.txt file in ROS workspace.

Say I git cloned a repo into my src folder within my workspace. I am unable to catkin build it because it does not have a package.xml nor a CMake file. Essentially, I want to write a python script to import and use this cloned package, but it won't be recognized without building it. Is my only solution to create a package.xml and CMake file for the package and then build it? I am using Ubuntu Focal Fossa with a Noetic ROS distro.

Asked by mikevillan on 2023-04-05 22:32:36 UTC

Comments

Sorry for the comment noise. The comment got long enough that I changed it to an answer.

Asked by Mike Scheutzow on 2023-04-08 09:06:03 UTC

Answers

You likely need to have CMakeLists.txt and package.xml file to build a package.

src folder only gives you source code. However, a package still needs CMakeLists.txt and package.xml to provide information about things like build or runtime dependencies, required CMake verion, libraries/executables to build, etc... (http://wiki.ros.org/catkin/CMakeLists.txt).

Since each package is very specific, I think you would need to write them. You may want to start by adding contents from a basic template provided on the ROS tutorial page.

Asked by GuimingChen on 2023-04-05 23:33:52 UTC

Comments

That is pretty much what I figured, I was just hoping there was another way. The package is graph-tool which is basically C++ code with a python wrapper and so I've heard a lot of people having trouble using it and there is a post on here about using it in ROS, but it has yet to be answered. Thank you!

Asked by mikevillan on 2023-04-06 20:11:35 UTC

It is unclear what your goal is.

Do you understand the distinction between a "system package" and a "ros package"?

It's common for a ros package/node to depend on a system package/library. A system package is built outside of the ros world, and is typically installed as a library somewhere in /usr. Your ros node then uses this library.

If the library you want to use is available through ubuntu apt or pip, you should simply be declaring this system dependency in the CMakeLists.txt file for your ros package.

Asked by Mike Scheutzow on 2023-04-08 09:16:21 UTC