!setup-ros2-gazebo.md

ROS2 Docker Gazebo Setup (MacOS)

tags: #osx #macos #arm #arm64 #docker #gazebo #ros2 #ros

(For Mac + ARM/M1/M2/M3/M4)

Both the (Official ROS Docker images)[https://hub.docker.com/_/ros] and osrf/ros images are do not always have the latest version of Gazebo or support for arm platforms. Official Docker images for ROS2 are available at: https://hub.docker.com/r/osrf/ros/tags/

Offical images: https://hub.docker.com/_/ros

[https://hub.docker.com/_/ros](Official ROS Docker images)

[https://github.com/osrf/docker_images/blob/master/ros/jazzy/ubuntu/noble/simulation/Dockerfile](Source Dockerfile)

This is the vairation of ROS2 that is installed

docker pull osrf/ros:jazzy-simulation

Better repo for ROS2 images: https://github.com/sloretz/ros_oci_images

x11 Forwarding

I was unable to get the Gazebo GUI (or rviz2) to work on MacOS with x11 forwarding enabled using xQuartz. https://medium.com/@viirya/setting-up-linux-gui-container-on-mac-728194b20e78

VNC

See example Dockerfile in this gist:

Build the image (See Dockerfile for details):

docker build -t gazebo-vnc:jazzy .

Launch Docker container:

docker run -d --rm -p 5900:5900 gazebo-vnc:jazzy
docker exec -it <CONTAINER_ID> bash

Quickly launch built in MacOS VNC client:

open "vnc://localhost:5900"

Test with:

gz sim shapes.sdf

Local Gazebo Client

https://gazebosim.org/docs/latest/ros2_integration/

On the host machine:

brew tap osrf/simulation
brew install <your_version> # e.g. brew install gz-harmonic (See below to match your ROS2 version) 

# ROS2 Rolling = gz-iconic
# ROS2 Jazzy = gz-harmonic (*Tested & Working*)
# ROS2 Humble & Iron = ignition-fortress
# ROS2 Foxy & Noetic = ignition-citadel

Note: This takes a while to install.

Robostack

Resources

• https://github.com/osrf/docker_images

Dockerfile

# Example Dockerfile for adding a VNC server to an existing image.

# Select your base image here:
FROM ghcr.io/sloretz/ros:jazzy-desktop-full

# Add anything else you need to install/do here

# Install required packages for VNC
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    x11vnc \
    xvfb \
    firefox \
    mesa-utils \
    libgl1-mesa-dri \
    libgl1-mesa-dev \
    libglu1-mesa \
    xserver-xorg-core \
    xserver-xorg-video-dummy \
    x11-apps \
    dbus-x11 \
    xfce4 xfce4-goodies \
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

# Create a VNC password
RUN mkdir ~/.vnc && x11vnc -storepasswd 1234 ~/.vnc/passwd

# Set the DISPLAY environment variable
RUN echo 'export DISPLAY=:1' >> ~/.bashrc
RUN echo 'source /ros_entrypoint.sh' >> ~/.bashrc

# Configure a virtual X server (Xvfb)
CMD Xvfb :1 -screen 0 1680x1050x24 & \
    export DISPLAY=:1 && \
    export LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1 && \
    dbus-launch --exit-with-session startxfce4 & \
    x11vnc -display :1 -forever -passwd 1234

ros-support.png

running-gazebo.png