How to build installed packages using cmake?

Hello, I recently installed ROS drivers for my LMS151 laser scanner and ax2550 roboteq motor controller using the lines:

sudo apt-get install ros-hydro-lms1xx sudo apt-get install ros-hydro-ax2550

Both files downloaded in the same format, and now I'm pretty sure I have to build them somehow using cmake, but am not sure exactly how. Inside my /opt/ros/hydro/share folder, I have an lms1xx and ax2550 folder, both of which contain a package.xml, and a cmake directory containing (respectively) lms1xxCOnfig.cmake, lms1xxConfig-version.cmake, ax2550Config.cmake, ax2550Config.cmake, ax2550-msg-extras.cmake, ax2550-msg-paths.cmake.

So it looks to me like I somehow have to cmake the cmake directory in each of these packages respectively, but I cannot figure out exactly how to do that. When I try "cmake cmake/," ubuntu tells me the directory does not contain a CMakeLists.txt, and when I navigate inside the cmake pacakge and try "cmake ," it tells me that that file can't be cmade because it isn't a directory. I guess I'm somehow misunderstanding the usage of cmake, can anyone help me out?

I'm running ros hydro on ubuntu 12.04.

Thanks!

Asked by mysteriousmonkey29 on 2014-07-09 12:10:01 UTC

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Answers

You should not have to build a package if you install them from binaries... When packages are released, the binaries are compiled by Jenkins, an online build-farm, and then distributed. If you have access to the binaries, then they have been successfully built; however, sometimes files get left out during the release process (I myself am guilty of this). So, if you have missing files, then try to contact the maintainer. Otherwise, just run it. Binary installs are supposed to be easy. :)

Asked by allenh1 on 2014-07-09 14:35:33 UTC

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Are you sure? Cause it seems a little weird that the author would forget to include the actual node, and in fact everything except for the launch file and a bunch of cmake configuration files in the download. It really seems like I' supposed to do something to create the files in question, like somehow cmaking the configuration files.

Asked by mysteriousmonkey29 on 2014-07-11 13:03:06 UTC

In fact, I'm encountering this same problem once again with the gps_common package that I downloaded via sudo apt-get install ros-hydro-gps-umd. I find it i ncreasingly difficu,t to believe that all these authors simply forgot to include essential files in their distribution; I think there must be some way to do somethi g with the CMake directory that is in all the packages I've had this problem with.

Asked by mysteriousmonkey29 on 2014-08-13 13:49:12 UTC