Using xacro package in ROS 2

asked 2020-06-08 10:58:50 -0500

max_a
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updated 2020-06-08 12:41:59 -0500

I was using the xacro package in ROS Melodic to convert .xacro's to .urdf's, but I need to use python 3 now and my ROS Melodic is using python 2. I installed ROS 2 Eloquent onto my Windows device, but ROS 2 does not seem to have the xacro package installed. Could I get some help as to how to use xacro in ROS 2?

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ROS 2 Melodic

just making sure: Melodic is a ROS 1 release name.

gvdhoorn ( 2020-06-08 12:21:02 -0500 )edit

Fixed, thanks!

max_a ( 2020-06-08 12:42:10 -0500 )edit

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answered 2020-06-08 12:55:17 -0500

tfoote

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Xacro is released for all recent distros up to and including eloquent.

https://index.ros.org/p/xacro/#eloquent

You didn't clarify what installation method you used on Windows, but I'll assume that you didn't get one that included xacro, ROS 2 is a collection of packages and depending on what installation method you select you get different packages. And not all packages are bundled into the binary packages we built. The quickest way to add xacro is to put it into your source workspace and build it with your packages.

It's not yet released for Foxy If you'd like to see it released there please reach out to the maintainers probably the best way is to request a release on the issue tracker on it's repository: https://github.com/ros/xacro

If you use it from source and validate that it works, and or make any necessary patches it will help make it easier for the maintainers to respond quickly.

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I installed ROS 2 just through this link: https://index.ros.org/doc/ros2/Instal..., do you know which installation method includes xacro?

max_a ( 2020-06-08 15:45:42 -0500 )edit

From looking quickly I don't think xacro is currently in the pre-packaged binaries for Windows. I opened a ticket to improve the docuementation here: https://github.com/ros2/ros2_document...

tfoote ( 2020-06-08 16:55:26 -0500 )edit

As a follow-up, we've documented that fat binary installations only contain a subset of packages (https://github.com/ros2/ros2_document...). With this installation method, you should build packages that are not included, like xacro, from source.