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| <<MenuNavi(Menus/ROSFilesystemConcepts)>> <<TOC(3)>> Software in ROS is organized in ''packages''. A package might contain ROS [[Nodes|nodes]], a ROS-independent library, a dataset, configuration files, a third-party piece of software, or anything else that logically constitutes a useful module. The goal of these packages it to provide this useful functionality in an easy-to-consume manner so that software can be easily reused. In general, ROS packages follow a "Goldilocks" principal: enough functionality to be useful, but not too much that the package is heavyweight and difficult to use from other software. Packages are easy to create by hand or with tools like [[roscreate|roscreate-pkg]]. A ROS package is simply a directory descended from `ROS_ROOT` or `ROS_PACKAGE_PATH` (see [[ROS/EnvironmentVariables|ROS Environment Variables]]) that has a [[Manifest|manifest.xml]] file in it. Packages may be organized together into ROS [[Stacks|stacks]]. Please see the [[Manifest]] section for documentation on how to read and write `manifest.xml` files. == Common Files and Directories == ROS packages tend to follow a common structure. Here are some of the directories and files you may notice. * `bin/`: compiled binaries * `include/package_name`: C++ include headers (make sure to export in the [[Manifest]]) * `msg/`: [[msg|Message (msg) types]] * `src/package_name/`: Source files, especially Python source that are exported to other packages. * `srv/`: [[srv|Service (srv) types]] * `scripts/`: executable scripts * `CMakeLists.txt`: CMake build file (see [[CMakeLists]]) * `manifest.xml`: Package [[Manifest]] * `mainpage.dox`: many packages will often place their [[Doxygen]] mainpage documentation here == Command-line Tools == Packages are a very central concept to how files in ROS are organized, so there are quite a few tools in ROS that help you manage them. This includes: * [[rospack]]: find and retrieve information about packages. The [[ROS/BuildSystem|build system]] also uses [[rospack]] to locate a package and build its dependencies. * [[roscreate|roscreate-pkg]]: create a new package. * [[rosmake]]: build a package and its dependencies. * [[rosdep]]: install system dependencies of a package. * [[rxdeps]]: visualizes package dependencies as a graph. There are also extensions to common Unix shells that provide additional functionality to help you navigate and use packages. The most commonly used of these is [[rosbash]], which provides ROS-variants of common Unix shell commands. The most commonly used of these is `roscd`, which performs a `cd` to the directory of a package, e.g. |
There are also extensions to common Unix shells that provide additional functionality to help you navigate and use packages. The most commonly used of these is [[rosbash]], which provides ROS-variants of common Unix shell commands. The most commonly used of these is `roscd`, which performs a `cd` to the directory of a package or stack, e.g. |
Packages in ROS are organized into ROS stacks. Whereas the goal of packages is to create minimal collections of code for easy reuse, the goal of stacks is to simplify the process of code sharing. Stacks are the primary mechanism in ROS for distributing software. Each stack has an associated version and can declare dependencies on other stacks. These dependencies also declare a version number, which provides greater stability in development.
Stacks collect packages that collectively provide functionality, such as a navigation stack or a manipulation stack. Unlike a traditional software library that you link against at compile time, these stacks can also provide this functionality at runtime via ROS topics and services.
Stacks are easy to create by hand. A stack is simply a directory descended from ROS_ROOT or ROS_PACKAGE_PATH (see ROS Environment Variables) that has a stack.xml file in it. Any Packages in this directory are considered to be part of the Stack.
For release purposes, a CMakeLists.txt and Makefile should also be put into the root of the stack. The roscreate-stack tool can generate this file automatically.
Please see the Stack Manifest section for documentation on how to write stack.xml files.
Command-line Tools
rosstack is the primary ROS tool for interacting with ROS stacks. It is the stack-level analogue of the rospack tool for packages.
There are also extensions to common Unix shells that provide additional functionality to help you navigate and use packages. The most commonly used of these is rosbash, which provides ROS-variants of common Unix shell commands. The most commonly used of these is roscd, which performs a cd to the directory of a package or stack, e.g.
roscd roscpp_tutorials
Client Library Support
Python
In Python, you can use the roslib.stacks module in the roslib package to get information about ROS stacks.
