Ubuntu install of Fuerte
We are building Debian packages for several Ubuntu platforms, listed below. These packages are more efficient than source-based builds and are our preferred installation method for Ubuntu.
If you need to install from source (not recommended), please see source (download-and-compile) installation instructions.
Contents
Installation
Configure your Ubuntu repositories
Configure your Ubuntu repositories to allow "restricted," "universe," and "multiverse." You can follow the Ubuntu guide for instructions on doing this.
Setup your sources.list
Setup your computer to accept software from packages.ros.org. ROS Fuerte does not support Maverick, Natty, or Quantal.
Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid)
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.ros.org/ros/ubuntu lucid main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros-latest.list'
Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric)
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.ros.org/ros/ubuntu oneiric main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros-latest.list'
Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise)
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.ros.org/ros/ubuntu precise main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros-latest.list'
Set up your keys
wget http://packages.ros.org/ros.key -O - | sudo apt-key add -
Installation
Make sure you have re-indexed the ROS.org server:
sudo apt-get update
There are many different libraries and tools in ROS. We provided four default configurations to get you started. You can also install ROS stacks individually.
Desktop-Full Install: (Recommended): ROS, rx, rviz, robot-generic libraries, 2D/3D simulators, navigation and 2D/3D perception
sudo apt-get install ros-fuerte-desktop-full
or click here
Desktop Install: ROS, rx, rviz, and robot-generic libraries
sudo apt-get install ros-fuerte-desktop
or click here
ROS-Comm: (Bare Bones) ROS package, build, and communication libraries. No GUI tools.
sudo apt-get install ros-fuerte-ros-comm
or click here
Individual Stack: You can also install a specific ROS stack (replace underscores with dashes of the stack name):
sudo apt-get install ros-fuerte-STACK
e.g.sudo apt-get install ros-fuerte-slam-gmapping
Environment setup
It's convenient if the ROS environment variables are automatically added to your bash session every time a new shell is launched:
echo "source /opt/ros/fuerte/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc . ~/.bashrc
If you have more than one ROS distribution installed, ~/.bashrc must only source the setup.bash for the version you are currently using.
If you just want to change the environment of your current shell, you can type:
source /opt/ros/fuerte/setup.bash
Most users will want to develop their own packages. The best way to configure the environment for that is to create an overlay.
Standalone tools
rosinstall and rosdep are frequently used command-line tools in ROS that are distributed separately. rosinstall enables you to easily download source trees for ROS packages and stacks. rosdep enables you to easily install system dependencies for source you are about to compile.
To install these tools, run:
sudo apt-get install python-rosinstall python-rosdep