[Jetty] Migrate Windows source installation to use Pixi

jetty/install_windows_src.md

@@ -13,23 +13,19 @@ without any failures when using their functionalities.
 > You should be able to use `ogre` as a rendering engine instead of the default `ogre2`.
 > Just append `--render-engine ogre` to the command line.
 
+## Dependency distribution (conda-forge) and the package manager (Pixi)
+
+Binaries for all the dependendencies used by Gazebo can be found in the [conda-forge](https://conda-forge.org/)
+package repository. The Gazebo buildfarm and these instructions uses the [Pixi](https://pixi.sh/) package manager
+but other package managers for Conda should work like miniforge, mamba, etc.
+
 ## Install dependencies
 
-1. If you do not have the conda package manager installed in your system, install a conda distribution.
-   As Gazebo uses all dependencies from the conda-forge channel, we suggest to install miniforge following [the official miniforge installation docs](https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge#windows) by executing the following commands in a "Command Prompt" terminal:
-   ```cmd
-   curl.exe -L -O https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge/releases/latest/download/Miniforge3-Windows-x86_64.exe
-   start /wait "" Miniforge3-Windows-x86_64.exe /InstallationType=JustMe /RegisterPython=0 /S /D=%UserProfile%\Miniforge3
-   %UserProfile%\Miniforge3\condabin\conda init
-   %UserProfile%\Miniforge3\condabin\conda config --set auto_activate_base false
-   del Miniforge3-Windows-x86_64.exe
-   ```
-   If you followed this step correctly, you should be able to access `conda` in any new "Command Prompt" terminal you open.
-   To verify that, check that if you open a new terminal and execute `conda info`, the output begins with:
-   ```cmd
-     active environment : None
-            shell level : 0
-     [..]
+1. If no package manager is installed in the system to manage conda-forge dependencies, the recommended
+   option is to follow the Pixi installer instructions.
+
+   ```bash
+   powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm -useb https://pixi.sh/install.ps1 | iex"
    ```
 
 2. Install [Visual Studio 2019 or 2022](https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/).
@@ -43,47 +39,30 @@ without any failures when using their functionalities.
    for VS (search for "developer powershell"). Optionally,
    right-click and pin to the task bar for quick access in the future.
 
-   If you chose PowerShell, you need to do a few steps to be able to use Conda and Gazebo in it:
-   ```bash
-   conda init powershell
-   # Restart the PowerShell
-   Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope CurrentUser
-   ```
-
-4. Create and activate a Conda environment:
+4. Create the Pixi project directory and download the configuration files
+   Pixi projects operates inside a given directory, creating one in any user system location
+   should be enough. There are two configuration files to download:
    ```bash
-   conda create -n gz-ws
-   conda activate gz-ws
+   mkdir gazebo
+   cd gazebo
+   curl.exe -L -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gazebo-tooling/release-tools/refs/heads/master/conda/envs/noble_like/pixi.toml
+   curl.exe -L -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gazebo-tooling/release-tools/refs/heads/master/conda/envs/noble_like/pixi.lock
    ```
-   Once you have activated an environment, a prefix like `(gz-ws)` will be prepended to
-   your prompt.
-
-   You can use `conda info --envs` to see all of your environments.
-
-   To speed up conda installations, also set the following to use libmamba solver.
-   Older conda installations may need to do [additional steps](https://www.anaconda.com/blog/a-faster-conda-for-a-growing-community).
+5. Install dependencies using Pixi and enable the Pixi environment:
+   Once inside the Pixi project directory (i.e: `gazebo`), Pixi can install the dependencies
+   that are part of the configuration file:
    ```bash
-   conda config --set solver libmamba
+   :: inside the gazebo directory
+   pixi install
    ```
-   To remove an environment, use `conda remove --all --name <env_name>`.
-
-   > **NOTE**
-   > This way of Conda environment creation puts it into a default folder. If you need
-     to install it elsewhere, use `--prefix <env_path>` instead of `--name <env_name>`.
-     Environments in custom paths cannot be referenced by names, so even `conda activate`
-     needs to be passed a path (relative or absolute) instead of the name. If you refer
-     to a subdirectory of the current directory, you have to prepend `.\` so that Conda
-     knows it is a path and not a name.
-
-5. Install dependencies:
+   This can take some minutes. After this Pixi can make accesible all the libraries and dependencies
+   installed by providing a shell enviroment:
    ```bash
-   conda install cmake git vcstool curl pkg-config ^
-   colcon-common-extensions dartsim eigen freeimage gdal gts ^
-   glib dlfcn-win32 ffmpeg ruby tinyxml2 tinyxml ^
-   protobuf urdfdom zeromq cppzmq ogre=1.10 ogre-next jsoncpp ^
-   libzip qt pybind11 boost --channel conda-forge
+   :: inside the gazebo directory
+   pixi shell
    ```
-   This can take tens of minutes (or less when using libmamba solver).
+   With the Pixi shell environment active (there will be a "(gazebo)" label before the terminal prompt) the Pixi environment
+   is accesible from anywhere in the file system.
 
 6. Navigate to where you would like to build the library, create and enter your workspace directory,
    create the `src` directory which will contain the Gazebo source code.
@@ -95,17 +74,15 @@ without any failures when using their functionalities.
 
 7. Then clone the repositories
    ```bash
-   # CMD
-   curl -sk https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gazebo-tooling/gazebodistro/master/collection-jetty.yaml -o collection-jetty
-   vcs import src < collection-jetty
-
-   # PowerShell
-   curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gazebo-tooling/gazebodistro/master/collection-jetty.yaml -o collection-jetty
-   vcs import --input collection-jetty src
+   vcs import --input https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gazebo-tooling/gazebodistro/master/collection-jetty.yaml src/
    ```
 
 ## Building the Gazebo Libraries
 
+> **NOTE**
+> Be sure of being under a Visual Studio Developer shell (step 3 above) and
+> after executing the pixi shell (step 5 above).
+
 Once the compiler and all the sources are in place it is time to compile them.
 Start the procedure by navigating to your workspace and listing the packages
 recognized by `colcon`:
@@ -142,22 +119,41 @@ If there are no errors, all the binaries should be ready to use.
 ## Using the workspace
 
 The workspace needs to be sourced every time a new terminal is used (
-and Conda environment activated before that).
+and the Pixi environment activated before that).
 
 The overall instructions for setting up a new terminal to use the built
 workspace are:
 
 ```bash
 # CMD
-conda activate gz-ws
+cd gazebo
+pixi shell
 call install\setup.bat
 
 # PowerShell
-conda activate gz-ws
+cd gazebo
+pixi shell
 .\install\setup.ps1
 ```
+<div class="warning">
+An issue in the conda-forge Qt6 package is requiring to set QT environment variables:
+</div>
+
+```bash
+# Until https://github.com/conda-forge/qt-main-feedstock/issues/275 is resolved
+cd gazebo
+set QT_PLUGIN_PATH=%CD%\.pixi\envs\default\Library\lib\qt6\plugins
+set QML2_IMPORT_PATH=%CD%\.pixi\envs\default\Library\lib\qt6\qml
+```
+
+You should now be able to launch gazebo normally:
+
+```bash
+gz sim --verbose
+```
 
-You should now be able to launch gazebo:
+Alternativally launching the server and the client in two different terminales (after sourcing
+in both the install scripts, the pixi shell and the QT env variables):
 
 ```bash
 # Launch server in one terminal
@@ -202,18 +198,16 @@ the results you want:
      your `conda` environment with:
 
      ```bash
-     rm -rf <workspace_name>
+     rm -rf <workspace_name>  # gz-ws was used as workspace_name in this document
      ```
 
   3. If you want to keep the source code, you can remove the
      `install` / `build` / `log` directories as desired, leaving the `src` directory.
 
-  4. Last, if you do not need the conda environment anymore, you can remove it with
+  4. Last, if you do not need the Pixi environment anymore, you can remove it with
 
      ```bash
-     conda deactivate
-     conda remove --all --name <env_name>
-     # or conda remove --all --prefix <path_to_env> if you installed to custom path
+     rm -fr <pixi_env_path>  # "gazebo" was used as pixi_env_path in this document
      ```
 
 ## Troubleshooting