This repository contains all the setup, rules and build configuration to use Bazel with ROS 2. As recommended by Bazel, all ROS 2 packages are built from source. They are loaded as needed, so no a priori loading or manual version management of ROS 2 repos (e.g., via vcs tool) is required.
The neccessary BUILD files for ROS 2 repos are injected while loading. In case Bazel gains some traction within the ROS community, Bazel BUILD files should ideally be provided directly by the ROS 2 repositories.
Specific rules for message generation and packaging are provided in this repository (see rosidl/defs.bzl and pkg/defs.bzl).
This is still work in progress. Some essential parts are not complete yet. Here is a short list of major restrictions:
- Only tested on Ubunut 20.04 Linux (x86_64). Other Linux distributions may work. Windows will not be supported in the foreseeable future.
- Only ROS 2 Humble is supported. Other distros may work after extending
@rules_ros//repos/config/defs.bzl
accordingly. - Message generation is still incomplete. Therefore even the simplest examples will not run due to not yet bazelized middleware.
- Not all packages have been bazelized yet. Main focus currently lies on generating an
install space and providing message generation support. Out of all the ROS 2 CLI commands,
(
ros2cli
), only therun
command is currently bazelized. - The streamlined integration of custom packages into the repo setup is not yet available. Same applies to adding additional Python packages. This will be added soon.
Bazel needs to be available. It is recommended to use bazelisk as the launch tool for Bazel.
Create an empty folder and add the following files to it:
-
WORKSPACE
file:workspace(name = "my_first_bazel_ros_workspace") # choose a workspace name here # load("@bazel_tools//tools/build_defs/repo:http.bzl", "http_archive") load("@bazel_tools//tools/build_defs/repo:git.bzl", "git_repository") RULES_ROS_VERSION = "xxx" # TODO: where to find the right version RUIES_ROS_SHA = "xxx" # until there is an initial release, use the following: git_repository( name = "rules_ros", remote = "https://github.com/ApexAI/rules_ros.git", branch = "main", ) # after the first release, switch to this dependency #https_archive( # name = "rules_ros", # sha256 = RULES_ROS_SHA, # strip_prefix = "xxx", # url = "https://github.com/ApexAI/rules_ros/archive/{}.zip".format(RULES_ROS_VERSION), #) load("@rules_ros//repos/config:defs.bzl", "configure_ros2") configure_ros2(distro = "humble") # currently only Humble is supported load("@ros2_config//:setup.bzl", "setup") setup() load("@rules_ros//thirdparty:setup_01.bzl", "setup_01") setup_01() load("@rules_ros//thirdparty:setup_02.bzl", "setup_02") setup_02() load("@rules_ros//thirdparty:setup_03.bzl", "setup_03") setup_03() load("@rules_ros//thirdparty:setup_04.bzl", "setup_04") setup_04()
-
.bazelrc
file:# enable incompatible Python init mode build --incompatible_default_to_explicit_init_py # enable implementation_deps on cc_library targets build --experimental_cc_implementation_deps # set C 17 for all builds build --cxxopt="-std=c 17" build --host_cxxopt="-std=c 17"
-
.bazelversion
file (ifbazelisk
is being used):6.5.0
To build an example delivered in the rules_ros
repository run, e.g.
bazel build @rules_ros//examples/hello_world
from anywhere within the workspace.
Executing the example can be done by calling
bazel run @rules_ros//examples/hello_world
Note that no sourcing is necessary. Bazel will take care of all the dependencies.
Deploying a package archive to an install folder can be done by
bazel run @rules_ros//examples:rules_ros_examples.install <install_folder>
Now the environment is ready to work with ROS as usual. Source the package as usual with:
source <install_folder>/setup.bash
and run an executable with
ros2 run hello_world hello_world
In this setup, a hermetic Python interpreter is included. The version is specified in
thirdparty/python/repositories.bzl
. Python packages specified in
thirdparty/python/requirements_lock.in
are available for use. If a package needs to be added, run
bazel run @rules_ros//thirdparty/python:requirements_lock.update
to pin specific versions of the dependencies. In the future there will be a possibility to inject a customization in the WORKSPACE file.
ROS 2 repositories are made available as external dependencies with the name specified in
the ros2.repos
file known from the original ROS 2 repository, e.g., the ros2/rclcpp
repo
will be available as @ros2.rclcpp
with all targets specified in the BUILD files in
repos/config/ros2.rclcpp.BUILD
. The precise location where the build files will be injected
into the rclcpp
repo is specified in the index file repos/config/bazel.repos
.
Therefore, if there is a dependency on rclcpp
, "@ros2.rclcpp//rclcpp"
needs to be added
as a dependency in the cc_binary
or cc_library
target.
The exact version of a ROS 2 repository is pinned in the file repos/config/ros2_<distro>.lock
.
This file can be updated for the configured distro by running:
bazel run @rules_ros//repos/config:repos_lock.update
In the future there will be a possibility to inject any customization in the WORKSPACE file.