Gist to create a debian package out of a ROS package using docker and meant for amd or arm architectures

ros-docker.md

Create debian packages out of a ROS package (docker)

The dockerfile should be something like

# If amd64 architecture
# FROM osrf/ros:melodic-desktop-full-bionic

# If arm64 architecture
FROM arm64v8/ros:melodic

# uncomment ARG if you need to interact with a remote repository
# ARG SSH_PRIVATE_KEY

RUN apt update &&  apt install -y \
	libboost-all-dev \
	python-catkin-tools \
        # To use ssh-keyscan
	ssh \
	# Necessary for creating debian packages out of ros packages
	python-bloom \
	fakeroot \
	dpkg-dev \
	debhelper \
	# Clean apt list
	&& rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

# Uncomment in case you need to interact (clone/push) a remote git repo
# RUN mkdir /root/.ssh/ \
# 	# setup ssh, with the private-key argument
# 	&& echo "${SSH_PRIVATE_KEY}" > /root/.ssh/id_rsa \
# 	# git requires a private key with strict permission settings for authentication via SSH
# 	&& chmod 600 /root/.ssh/id_rsa \
# 	# add github to known hosts
# 	&& touch /root/.ssh/known_hosts \
# 	&& ssh-keyscan bitbucket.org >> /root/.ssh/known_hosts
# RUN git clone <git-repo> <desired path>

# Assuming that the dockerfile is in you workspace,
# add all the files from the workspace to the image
ADD . /home

Having the dockerfile, now run

Build image

docker build --tag my_ros_image:1.0 .

or

docker build --build-arg SSH_PRIVATE_KEY="$(cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa)" --tag my_ros_image:1.0 .

if you need to pass ssh-keys, be aware that your ssh keys will be available for anyone that has access to your image

Run container

docker run --rm -it my_ros_image:1.0

Within container

One should run the following commands

rosdep update

catkin clean -y

One may need to run catkin config to setup the build pipeline with CMAKE arguments or install from ROS, such as catkin config --cmake-args -DARCHI=arm64

Then build

catkin build

change directory to your package:

cd /home/src/my_package

then run

bloom-generate rosdebian --os-name ubuntu --ros-distro melodic

fakeroot debian/rules binary

Useful commands

cat /proc/self/cgroup | grep -o -e "docker-.*.scope" | head -n 1 | sed "s/docker-\(.*\).scope/\\1/" get Docker Linux container information from within the container itself

docker cp <containerId>:/file/path/within/container /host/path/target copying files from container to host

In case you find and error like

Error of catkin build: Unable to find source space

Run rm -rf ./.catkin_tools in the path has catkin_tools