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For a "normal" developer I would describe the options like this:
catkin_make was the first script around to build catkin workspace and is therefore used in many tutorials. It has several down sides (requiring non-standard logic in packages to declared cross-package target dependencies) and limitation (can't process plain CMake packages, requires all targets across all packages in a workspace to be unique). Therefore I wouldn't recommend to use it.catkin_make_isolated is the script which was developed next which addresses all these shortcomings. It comes at the cost of being slower since it processes all packages sequentially. It is being used on build.ros.org in the devel and PR jobs. I would recommend using this if you want the most reliable solution.catkin_tools (called catkin build above) is similar to catkin_make_isolated but addresses the performance limitation by processing packages in parallel where possible. It also has a lot of usability features which makes it much easier to use and configure. On the downside this tool is not being actively maintained for the past years so I wouldn't recommend it either.colcon is the new build tool developed for ROS 2 and works similar to catkin_tools which less usability features at the moment but being able to build any kind of packages (catkin, ament, CMake, Python setuptools, gradle, bazel, cargo, ...) on all major platforms (Linux, macOS, Windows). While developed for ROS 2 it in principle also works for ROS 1. If you are willing to use something more bleeding edge (which might come with quirks which haven't been resolved / polished yet) this might be an option. The big advantage is that the tool is very modular and actively developed and extended by multiple parties.Since you are writing an extension for VSCode I would argue that colcon would be the best option - why?
| | 2 | No.2 Revision |
For a "normal" developer I would describe the options like this:
catkin_make was the first script around to build catkin workspace and is therefore used in many tutorials. It has several down sides (requiring non-standard logic in packages to declared cross-package target dependencies) and limitation (can't process plain CMake packages, requires all targets across all packages in a workspace to be unique). Therefore I wouldn't recommend to use it.catkin_make_isolated is the script which was developed next which addresses all these shortcomings. It comes at the cost of being slower since it processes all packages sequentially. It is being used on build.ros.org in the devel and PR jobs. I would recommend using this if you want the most reliable catkin_tools (called catkin build above) is similar to catkin_make_isolated but addresses the performance limitation by processing packages in parallel where possible. It also has a lot of usability features which makes it much easier to use and configure. On the downside this tool is not being actively maintained for the past years so I wouldn't recommend it either.colcon is the new build tool developed for ROS 2 and works similar to catkin_tools which less usability features at the moment but being able to build any kind of packages (catkin, ament, CMake, Python setuptools, gradle, bazel, cargo, ...) on all major platforms (Linux, macOS, Windows). While developed for ROS 2 it in principle also works for ROS 1. If you are willing to use something more bleeding edge (which might come with quirks which haven't been resolved / polished yet) this might be an option. The big advantage is that the tool is very modular and actively developed and extended by multiple parties.Since you are writing an extension for VSCode I would argue that colcon would be the best option - why?
| | 3 | No.3 Revision |
For a "normal" developer I would describe the options like this:
catkin_make was the first script around to build catkin workspace and is therefore used in many tutorials. It has several down sides (requiring non-standard logic in packages to declared cross-package target dependencies) and limitation (can't process plain CMake packages, requires all targets across all packages in a workspace to be unique). Therefore I wouldn't recommend to use it.catkin_make_isolated is the script which was developed next which addresses all these shortcomings. It comes at the cost of being slower since it processes all packages sequentially. It is being used on build.ros.org in the devel and PR jobs. I would recommend using this if you want the most reliable solution (exclusively for ROS 1).catkin_tools (called catkin build above) is similar to catkin_make_isolated but addresses the performance limitation by processing packages in parallel where possible. It also has a lot of usability features which makes it much easier to use and configure. On the downside this tool is not being actively maintained for the past years so I wouldn't recommend it either.colcon is the new build tool developed for ROS 2 and works similar to catkin_tools Since you are writing an extension for VSCode I would argue that colcon would be the best option - why?
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