19.2.8. Install ROS Packages

If you want to install a new package, for example apriltag_ros you can generate a new .rosinstall file and merge it with your current workspace with wstool.

Todo

Updating a catkin workspace were packages have been added this way will not work by following Update Catkin Workspace. We need to find a good solution of keeping track of packages that have been installed by merging a seperate .rosinstall file with wstool.

1. Change directory

   cd ~/ros_catkin_ws
   

2. New .rosinstall file

   rosinstall_generator apriltag apriltag_ros > apriltag_ros.rosinstall
   

3. Merge

   wstool merge -t src apriltag_ros.rosinstall
   

4. Update

   wstool update -t src
   

5. Install dependencies

   rosdep install -y --from-paths src --ignore-src -r
   

6. Build

   sudo catkin build --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release