Do I really need to $ source ~/catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash ?

asked 2016-03-17 11:48:19 -0500

thepirate16

101 ●16 ●19 ●24

Novice question:

I've created a custom message, package, etc as the official tutorial does. But when i do:

$ rosrun pkg_test1 pkg_test1_node

it gives me: [rospack] Error: package 'pkg_test1' not found

Indeed, if i do: $ source ~/catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash the problem is fixed. But do i really need to do that every time i want to use my custom programs? Is there any simple way to mantain them in the ROS path (i think that is what i am doing when i call these commands).

Thanks in advance.

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answered 2016-03-17 12:00:05 -0500

jarvisschultz

9031 ●58 ●128 ●143 https://www.linkedin.c...

Yes, you really do need to source a setup.bash file in every single terminal that you want to use ROS in. These scripts control many important ROS environment variables and non-ROS environment variables (PYTHONPATH, CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH, etc.). The setup.bash scripts provide a convenient way to control which version of ROS is "active" and which workspaces are "active" (see page on overlaying workspaces).

If you want every terminal to automatically "source" a particular setup.bash script, you could put that command in your ~/.bashrc. See the Environment Setup section of the ROS installation instructions.

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Ok! Now i understand it! Thanks for the reply!

thepirate16 ( 2016-03-17 13:50:53 -0500 )edit

Shouldn't source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash be enough? Do I really need to do source ~/catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash every single time that I want to use my custom packages?

cartucho ( 2020-03-25 01:57:40 -0500 )edit

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@cartucho: no, it cannot be enough.

/opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash only "knows about" the packages installed under /opt/ros/kinetic. It contains no references to your own, custom packages in your catkin_ws. So if you source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash, you only get access to the packages installed there.

What you don't need to do is sourceboth the setup.bash in /opt/ros/kineticand your catkin_ws. Just sourceing your catkin_ws should be sufficient to get you access to both sets of packages (provided you have setup your own workspace correctly).

gvdhoorn ( 2020-03-25 05:14:48 -0500 )edit

thank you @gvdhoorn it worked!

cartucho ( 2020-03-25 08:52:45 -0500 )edit

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answered 2019-11-23 17:40:35 -0500

aknuclear
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. ~/catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash Replace the "catkin_ws" with your workspace name and run the command in your terminal window (as mentioned in this link text gazebo tutorial documentation).

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Do I really need to $ source ~/catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash ?

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