ROS 2 + VS Code + docker using Dev Containers

A ready to use template repository for setting up ROS 2 with VS Code and Docker using Dev Containers, allowing for easy development without the need to install ROS 2 or any other tools on the host machine, but using all your favorite tools and extensions (and also GUI apps inside container!)!

version: 0.1.0

Sources:

1. https://docs.ros.org/en/iron/How-To-Guides/Setup-ROS-2-with-VSCode-and-Docker-Container.html
2. https://containers.dev/guides
3. https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/devcontainers/containers

Getting Started

Alternative 1: Manual clone and fresh start

1. Clone this repository to your local machine and change the name to your desired project name

git clone git@github.com:clausqr/ros2-vscode-container-dev.git my_project_name

1. Break the link to this repo and get rid of the images of readme.MD

cd my_project_name
rm -rf .git && git init
rm readme.MD && touch readme.MD
rm img/*.png

Alternative 2:

Alternative 2:

Alternatively, if you are using github, you can select "Use this template"

and select "Create new repository" and fill in the details and start working on your new repo. Then after cloning your new repo you only need to get rid of this readme and its imgs:

git clone <your_new_repo_url> my_project_name
cd my_project_name
rm README.md && touch README.md
rm img/*.png

Setting up Container Dev

1. Open the project folder in VS Code.
2. Install the Remote - Containers extension.
3. Customize Dockerfile according to your project needs
4. Run the create_devcontainer.bash script to tailor the template to your uid and gid, and also username and custom image name.

bash create_devcontainer.bash -h
Usage: create_devcontainer.bash [option...] {--username|-u} {--user-uid|-i} {--user-gid|-g} {--image-name|-n}

   -u, --username       Username to replace in the JSON template
   -i, --user-uid       User UID to replace in the JSON template
   -g, --user-gid       User GID to replace in the JSON template
   -n, --image-name     Image name to replace in the JSON template

If no command line arguments are provided, the values from setup.env will be used.

5. Build the container searching for "build container" in the command palette.
6. Alternatively, reopen the project in a container.
7. Inside the container, open a terminal and you will be in the /ros2_ws folder, which is mapped to the local ./ros2_ws folder.
8. Start developing. A default .gitignore file is in place to ignore build artifacts and logs, which stay inside the container.
9. From there on you can develop for ROS2 without installing ROS2 or any other tool on the host:

user@host:/ros2_ws/src$ ros2
usage: ros2 [-h] [--use-python-default-buffering] Call `ros2 <command> -h` for more detailed usage. ...

ros2 is an extensible command-line tool for ROS 2.

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --use-python-default-buffering
                        Do not force line buffering in stdout and instead use the python default buffering, which might be affected by PYTHONUNBUFFERED/-u and depends on whatever stdout is
                        interactive or not

Commands:
  action     Various action related sub-commands
  bag        Various rosbag related sub-commands
  component  Various component related sub-commands
  daemon     Various daemon related sub-commands
  doctor     Check ROS setup and other potential issues
  interface  Show information about ROS interfaces
  launch     Run a launch file
  lifecycle  Various lifecycle related sub-commands
  multicast  Various multicast related sub-commands
  node       Various node related sub-commands
  param      Various param related sub-commands
  pkg        Various package related sub-commands
  run        Run a package specific executable
  security   Various security related sub-commands
  service    Various service related sub-commands
  topic      Various topic related sub-commands
  wtf        Use `wtf` as alias to `doctor`

  Call `ros2 <command> -h` for more detailed usage.
user@host:/ros2_ws/src$

Remote Development Extension Pack

For an enhanced development experience, consider installing the Remote Development extension pack for VS Code. This extension pack allows you to connect to the container and see all packages and libraries corresponding to the environment as seen by the code to be run there. Main way to connect is via ssh:

SSH Access

To enable SSH access into the container, you can use the SSH_ENABLED and SSH_PORT options in the setup.env file.

• SSH_ENABLED: Set this to 1 to enable SSH access, or 0 to disable it.
• SSH_PORT: Specify the port to use for SSH access. The default is 20022.

When SSH is enabled, the script will mount the ~/.ssh folder from the host to the container. You can connect to the container using the same credentials as for the host as the default network mode is host.

Connect using the following command:

ssh -l <username> -p <port> <container_ip>

Replace <username> with the value of USERNAME from setup.env, <port> with the value of SSH_PORT, and <container_ip> with the IP address of the container.

Example:

ssh -l user -p 20022 192.168.1.100

Alternative: build and run from terminal

Some convenience scripts are provided, they use a single setup.env file to configure the user and image names. If you are running multiple instances, you can run each with a custom instance_name command line argument.

Available Scripts

1. build - Build the Docker image

./rr build

Build a Docker image with the username, user ID, group ID, image name, and ROS distro specified in the setup.env file.

2. cleanup - Clean up the ros2_ws artifacts

./rr cleanup

Clean up the ros2_ws artifacts, specifically the build, install, and log directories.

3. create_devcontainer - Create a devcontainer.json file

./rr create_devcontainer

Create a devcontainer.json file from the devcontainer-template.json template by replacing placeholders with values from setup.env.

4. join - Join a running in the container

./rr join [--name <container_name>]

Join a running container using the specified container name, username, user ID, and group ID from setup.env.

Options:

• --name <container_name>: Specify the container name to join. If not provided, the default container name from setup.env is used.

5. kill - Kill the running container

Description: If the container is running, this script will kill it. Usage:

./rr kill.bash [--name <container_name>]

Options:

• --name <container_name>: Specify the container name to kill. If not provided, the default container name from setup.env is used.

6. run - Run a Docker container

Description: Run a Docker container with configurations defined in setup.env. This script checks for necessary arguments and allows optional customization of the container name. Usage:

./rr run [--name <container_name>]

Options:

• --name <container_name>: Specify a custom name for the Docker container. If not provided, a default name from setup.env is used.
• --devaice <device>: Specify a device to mount in the container. This option can be used multiple times to mount multiple devices.
• --help: Display usage information and exit.

Example: Run container with custom name and mount two devices, /dev/ttyUSB17 (mapped to /dev/ttyUSB0 inside the container) and /dev/ttyACM0:

./rr run --name my_container --device /dev/ttyUSB17:/dev/ttyUSB0 --device /dev/ttyACM0

7. stop - Stop a running container.

Description: Stop a running container with the specified name. Usage:

Options:

• --name <container_name>: Specify the container name to stop. If not provided, the default container name from setup.env is used.

To Do and WIP

• Squash previous WIP items.
• Offload config to separate setup.env file.
• Allow multiple instances.
• Check/automate GPU handling.
• Check/automate/allow mounting devices (i.e. /dev/ttyUSB0).
• Integration with github codespaces (get rid of mounts for X11 and GPUs).